MMI Week 8

It's been a lot of the same from last week. We're still measuring but we're taking apart a little more to do it. The engines are getting a little more complicated and we're getting frustrated with new parts instead of the old ones. I'm starting to realize I like getting ticked off and pulling my hair out because it just means I'm doing something I haven't done before and it's forcing my brain to work. Don't try and tell me that when I'm in the middle of pulling out my hair though. You might get hit with a wrench.

I'll enjoy this even more, I think, when I don't have to do it with someone else and I can sit there and stare at something for a minute while trying to figure it out and not have to deal with "here lemme do it!". It's nice to have another person to bounce ideas off of but I enjoy trying to figure out something myself a little more.

This is a VERY tedious class with a lot of staring at micrometers. I'm starting to get a headache from doing it 100 times a night but in the end it'll help me learn it and I know that so I suck it up and get to it.

Tonight we start on transmissions. I think. It doesn't matter really. It's still better than towing cars or pulling cables through walls.

MMI Week 7 - Coming to a close

The first week in Course 1 is just about done. We've been over precision measuring and I've gotten pretty good at it, I think. We've gotten to tear down a small motor a few times to measure things like piston size, piston ring gap, cylinder size and such. Taking out the valves was easy. Getting those damned little keepers back in there is another story. Once you get the hang of doing it, it's not too bad. I'll just say there were some colorful words flying around the room, from all the tables, the other night when we first started doing it. Large fingers are NOT your friend when doing this sort of task. I'm starting to calm down and get a little more comfortable with the whole process as is most everyone else in the room.

I did have to blow up a little last night on 2 people for bugging me to death. They kept asking me for help on something that I was not working on and it was messing me up and I sort of lost it on them. I told them I didn't mind helping them learn something but not when it was going to interfere with what I was doing and trying to learn. I stick by my previous statement that I'm paying to go to school to learn how to do this stuff myself and not to learn how to teach others how to do it.

Madden 10 came out for the XBOX 360 last night so its a good distraction for my brain. Nothing like a little football game for 30 minutes or so to take the edge off during a study session. It helps to unlock your brain.

MMI Week 7 - "Course 1"

I'm extremely frustrated at this point and I can't quite put my finger on it as to why. It feels like this class, not the students but the class itself, is just so all over the place. There's no direction to follow with what's going on. We've been handed the book and spent one day going over how to precision measure and let loose on the worksheets. There's only one problem. I understand how to measure something but we have to take an engine apart to measure stuff that we have no idea what the hell we're measuring! If they're gonna teach us to take the engine apart then do that. If they're gonna teach us to measure the stuff then do that. Don't just toss in there to measure the stuff and assume we know what we're doing with regards to reading the service manuals and understanding all the technical terms in it.

I'm also getting real pissed off at some of the other students. I'm there to learn myself. If I'm spending my time teaching you how to do something then I'm missing something else myself that's going on at the same time. I can't tell someone to leave me the hell alone. It's just not in me but that's gonna change real soon.

I'll get it down soon enough. I'm just a little frustrated right now with this instructor.

MMI Week 6 (Theory 2) DONE!

DONE! FINALLY! We finished up the last Theory class tonight with our final exam and group presentations. My group did ours on exhaust upgrades. No one did a real detailed presentation as we only had 5 minutes but we covered 1 sportbike and 2 cruisers. We had some fun with it and it went over well.

To the information I know everyone is waiting on. We took our weekly exam on Electrical Theory last night and I got a 96 on it. Not too shabby if you ask me. You try to learn electrical theory in 3 days and see if you do better. I'm rather proud of myself.

Our final exam was tonight and let me tell you this, it was NOT easy to remember stuff from 4-6 weeks ago. We have covered a lot of information in that time and I've done a pretty good job of retaining it but it freaks you out a little when you're faced with a test forcing you to remember it. It didn't help that, after a guy from class came over to do some last minute studying today, I fell asleep in my chair at 5pm and woke up at 5:55. I have to be IN the class at 6:20 to keep my perfect attendance status and I live about 10-15 minutes away from the school. Wouldn't you know it, I hit EVERY stoplight and got stuck behind every slow person in Florida. I hit the door to the class with a minute to spare and of course that screwed my head all up. A perfect state of mind to be in right before a big test.

I got a 95 on it. WOHOOOOOOOOO! I had written down every question I had trouble with and/or knew outright that I was guessing on and sure enough, I got all 5 wrong. There was 100 questions on the final as opposed to 50 on the other exams.

After our presentations were all done and we cleaned up the classroom for the last time we got our final grades for the entire Theory 2 class, the last 3 weeks. I wasn't very nervous about passing or even getting a high enough grade to keep my 4.0 status. I was just nervous about how well I did do. I'm being stupid, I know. I just want to my best and score the highest I can and be able to back it up.

I got a 97 in the class!!!!!!!!

I can't say enough how proud I am of that. There's a UFC fight tomorrow night and there's some celebrating to be done. Our ENTIRE class passed and to top it off we averaged over a 90. We all tried to help each other understand stuff and we all made sure everyone had the opportunity to learn. There was more respect in our class, for each other and for the instructor, than in any other in the last 2 1/2 years our instructor has taught there. He also informed us that he was pretty sure that it was the first time at the school, that a theory class had a 4.0 average.

MMI - Week 6

Here we go. The final week of the Theory classes. This should be interesting. We have to cover all of electical theory in 3 days, test on the 4th day and the final exam for Theory 1 & 2 on Friday. Let the fun begin.

MMI Week 5 DONE!

Well week 5 has come and gone with quite a bit of headache. Our instructor was pulled out of our class and we got the afternoon class instructor. Needless to say it's been a repeat of the last time he was in. If I had to put up with this crap all the time I wouldn't be in this school. It's not acceptable that I am getting my time and money wasted because some people would rather have fun than learn.

On a positive note we did get to take apart a few carbs this week. It was cool to get a little hands on. We didn't rebuild them or anything. They were "junk parts" but they were complete (mostly) and we got to take them apart and put em back together after telling the instructor what all the parts were and what they did.

We finished covering carburetors and fuel injection systems. I got a 98 on the test tonight....or last night depending on your point of view. I only missed 1 question and the only reason I missed it was cause some asshat behind me decided it was a good day to live out his John Bonham fantasy and perform a 30 minute drum solo on the table with his fingers and pens. It was so damned distracting I checked a wrong box. I've made my frustrations known to this instructor and if this crap keeps up I'm going to main office about it. I'm not the only one either. There's about to be a civil war in the Theory 2 night class.

We started taking the notes down for the electrical theory chapter for next week and it's not gonna be a total breeze, especially if the crew keeps up the crap.

I'm still positive about the entire experience as I'm learning quite a bit and I still can't wait to really get to tear into some bikes and get dirty.

MMI Week 4- Done

Well the 4th week is over and we've been over oil, gas, transmissions, final drive and a few other little things. Keep in mind we aren't covering every single thing there is to know about these things but the theory behind them.....Hence the class being called "Theory 2". The first test in this class was on Friday and I got a 92 on it. Not what I wanted but considering the sheer amount of information the 50 questions were drawn from, I think I did ok.

We started covering carbs after the test in preperation for next week and I was ready to stab the instructor in the head to get him to use the word "vacuum". For some odd reason he doesn't want to say it. He says it doesn't exist on earth. I know he's an instructor for a reason but I also know that everyone can't know everything. I don't want to assume to know what he does and doesn't know but I do know that he's not explaining his point in a way that everyone can understand. I personally blocked him out and started reading something else while he was talking about it. He was just confusing me as I already understood the basics of how a carb works. I did keep an ear open in case something came up that I didn't know. People do ask questions and it could be something I don't know.....It's a good way to learn, listening to others questions.

So week 5 is about to begin tomorrow night and that means only 2 more weeks of theory then its time to get our hands dirty!