My First Day

I got this idea from Jeff and Emily's Blog, so I'll give props to them upfront.

I thought I'd do a recap of my first day of school at UNT. It didn't go perfectly well, but everything that needed to get done got done. It just took quite a bit more work then I intended.

I'll start with the fact that we got home from vacation at about 6:00 Saturday night meaning that I missed any chance of getting some pre-school errands finished ahead of time. So on Monday, I was planning to leave about 7:30. That way even with the hour long drive would I should have had plenty of time to get the parking figured out, find my classrooms, and hopefully even buy my books before going to class at 10:00.

I knew that I'd have to get started early though because right from the start one of my cars tires was flat. I'd been told by Laura's Aunt Terry while we were back in Utah that I had a flat and I knew that I had a slow leak in my drivers side front tire, so the information really hadn't registered while I was on vacation. Besides, my inspection was going to run out at the end of August and all 4 of my tires were going to fail, so I knew I'd be needed to buy tires this week. Also, I had a small pump which does a great job filling it up, so I wasn't worried.

Well, do to a lack of foresight on my part I never took the time to checkout the tire all day Sunday, so on Monday morning I was surprised to discover that it was my rear passenger side tire that was flat. Not only was it flat, the top of the stem had been completely destroyed. That meant having to put the mini-spare in order to go anywhere, and driving a maximum 50 mph all the way to Denton. I finally go out the door about 8:55 am.

My problems became even more fun as soon as I got to Denton. For help, please refer to the map. Remember, I'm trying to get to a 10:00 class.


1 - 9:59 arrive on campus hoping that they would have free parking today since it was the first day of class and not all of us could come get our passes last week. Drive past sign that says all lots being enforced.
2 - 10:03 pull up to traffic and safety building. Read big sign that says "COMMUTER PARKING PASSES ONLY AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORE" hung over front door.
3 - 10:06 pull up to information booth and ask where I'm supposed to park if all the lots are being enforced and access to the location that sells parking passes requires parking on campus. I'm directed to the metered lots and parking garage, or returning to the traffic office for a single day pass.
4 - 10:10 - 10:30 circle around the two metered lots and the parking garage praying that a spot will open up. Finally giving up. Figure by this time I've missed class and my goal is simply to get a syllabus.
5 - 10:33 pull back up to traffic office and buy a single day pass.
6 - 10:42 finally find a parking spot on the far side of the football field. Start running in the direction of class. (Blue Line)
7 - 10:45 see a shuttle passing me, realized that it was impossible to making it to class on foot, I decided to bet on the shuttle and hop on.
8 - 10:50 (the minute class officially ends) Not knowing the route of the shuttle and if there is a better stop I jump off and start running for class.
9 - 10:55 Find the classroom and hoping the professor is still hanging around answering questions I look inside only to see some guy setting up for an American Government class. Look around lobby for professor (whom I'd met in July, so I knew what he looked like), but he's long gone.
10 - 11:00 find my 12:00 class to make sure I don't miss that one.
11 - 11:10 go the my 10:00 professor's office to see if I can get a syllabus there. His door's locked so I ask the department secretary if she has any. She didn't but told me the professor would be back at 1:00.
12 - 11:20 get to the bookstore to buy books and a parking pass. I get all my books, but the parking pass line is too long.
13 - 11:55 make it to my 12:00 class. All we do is talk about the syllabus.
14 - 1:05 return to 11:00 professor's office to finds a line of people. It turns out he's an adviser, so I have to wait in line even though what I need takes 15 seconds and everyone in front of me is taking about 10 minutes.
15 - 2:00 return the to bookstore to buy a parking pass.
16 - 2:40 finds a shuttle stop with route maps. Figure out how to get back to my car and use the shuttles in the future.
17 - 3:10 finally get back to my car. Begin my slow drive back to McKinney. Stop by Discount Tire on the way home to make sure that my Tuesday goes better then Monday did.