We're into week 3 of 5 with this post-study-abroad-Germany-Design-Project, and I have given my heart, soul, and hours of sleep each night to it. I want to ensure that I put in nothing but quality craftsmanship of work, and I want that A grade for making the trip of a lifetime. Germany opened up a lot of doors for me, including some very very inspirational, INCREDIBLE, ones with Volkswagen. (P.S. I still feel that no one back here in the States has grasped the severity of how inside of that company I got!! I am a lethal weapon to the automotive industry! I am about as well-versed in the Volkswagen corporation as is its current CEO himself. All during that one fateful day at Wolfsburg!! It makes me just want to sneak back off to Germany and live happily ever after where they do understand me. Hee hee.)
*Stares off, dreamily recalling that Friday*
But lo, my professor back here in Milwaukee that is leading this project is really starting to give me the monkey's red ass. He always shows up disheveled, unorganized, sleepy, and nonplussed on our progress. Basically, he is in no fashion putting in the amount of workload that he needs to, to match us students and our work. This project is a huge deal and getting a lot of media attention...we're possibly going to land ourselves in the College magazine series, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you name it...and this professor has the gall to show up to our meetings without so much as a piece of paper and a pencil to take notes on our progress and suggestions.
No, seriously. Today he gruffly said, "Someone get me a piece of paper so I can write all this stuff down, because I'll forget it all, otherwise."
Nice guy.
He then got up and left without saying good bye. Except, he was at such odds in his head, that he completely forgot his briefcase sitting on a table on the other side of the conference room we were meeting in (which had paper in it to take notes with, by the way). He came back four minutes later, while we students were still there discussing things and wrapping up, to slovenly grab his briefcase and make a beeline back out the door.
During the presentation, we had to go around one by one and show our typed-up documents of research, progress, and number-crunching, of installing this environmental engineering stuff into buildings. Mind you, my documents are about 15 pages long, each week. All very coordinated, referenced, with charts, and special diagrams and JPEG-images edited with MS Paint. :)
When it came to my turn and me explaining some of the companies that we could approach to help install this house stuff, he plainly looked at me and said, "So, what is the math that shows how expensive it would be, like how many kWh of energy will one solar-thermal panel put out??"
I honestly did not do the math [yet], to appropriately answer his question, so I in turn, honestly replied with, "Well, I didn't look into that yet. I wasn't sure how far to get into this, in case these companies are looking for a committment contract already, and I'm just a researching student."
He fires back with, "Do you know how to complete the calculations???"
Dead silence. All eyes on me.
And I freaked. Got stuck. The tongue when thick. He just was so rude and ballsy with his questions. But, I stayed honest. I said, "Off the top of my head....no...but, I am sure I can look into it and learn."
He simply said back, "Yeah, you better."
Gaahhhhhh, how is it that he does not see how headlong into this I am already??? How does he not appreciate the effort I've been putting into the other aspects of this? Why can't he trust that I have this on the agenda to get ironed-out for next week's meeting? All I want is for him to be impressed and give me what I want in return: the A. But no, he has his head stuck in la-la land and only comes back down to stab me with his loftiness. Boo.
I want a cookie for all of this.
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