Fine. Bye-bye blog server.

I'm sorry, Ms. Thaden. I know I started a "great blog" but there are some people who started horrible blogs that they post in several times a day and clog the system and make it look like USD students don't have lives outside of party politics.

I can't relate to it any more. I don't want my blog associated with theirs anymore.

/abby

"In fact I moved my blog."

This was rather depressing news, but not unexpected. His blog was the top competitor against all the politics. With the influx of political garbage on the USD blog server, it's no wonder that anyone who's not a College Republican or USD Democrat has all but abandoned the site.

It's such a huge turnoff, to look at the blog roll and see all the back-and-forth. It's not even meaningful. I don't read any of it any more, and I know that when I skim the posts, I'm missing what little good stuff other people might post because there's too much crap.

One person tried to tell me that I should stick it out til November and then it'll be better, but I'm not so sure. They've been like this since the blog server began.

I remember the early days. I was so excited. I thought I'd be seeing all sorts of opportunities from all sorts of student organizations. I thought I'd be reading interesting pieces from individual students and maybe even faculty. And then ... they took over.

It was no longer about individual expression or organizations advertising their events. It was about who could scream the loudest, most frequent, partyline propoganda. Including the most atrocious mudslinging of the campaign. College kids tend to think they are thorough fact-checkers, but anyone who reads the Volante knows better. College politics is often more childish than "real" politics, and that's saying something.

When I find a student who actually knows about the blogs (most don't) their only comment is the post-happy nature of the political groups. No one reads the Libraries blog or the blogs related to the English department. Why? It's tough to even find the posts! Of the 48 most recent posts (two pages worth) only SIX are NOT from the political clubs. That means over 85% of recent posts are political in name and nature. Ouch.

I must admit, if this blog server doesn't shape up, and BEFORE November, I'm following Jesse's example and taking my blog elsewhere. I don't even want to be associated with such a horrible display.

My suggested solution: ITS implements a one-a-day policy. Or perhaps the groups should exercise enough self-control to voluntarily implement a one-a-day policy. If you have to be concise enough for one post a day, you might actually think about what you're saying and who you're linking. And that will VASTLY improve the quality of this blog server. It's very obvious that right now, the College Republicans and the USD Democrats are not thinking, just posting whatever comes to mind, or their inbox. Remember, kids, over 75% of the crap in your inbox is junkmail. PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU POST.

So I've been back in South Dakota for a few days now. I spent a couple of them at my parents' home in Yankton, and the rest back home in Verm. I'm unpacked and resettled, getting ready for the new school year.

Camp was awesome, and I have every intention of going back next year.

Sure, it was long hours with little pay, and sometimes felt like plain old babysitting... but, it was so worth it. The staff team was amazing, and we supported each other all the time. I handled the lack of sleep like a champ--never ever late for anything, unlike some others on my team. The demanding schedule and structured environment was exactly the sort of discipline I've needed for myself. I learned a lot about kids--how to talk to them in various situations, how to handle the brats, and how satisfying it is to see that spark of enlightenment when they understand what I'm telling them in a workshop.

That was the best part. The teaching. They learned a lot, and I did too. So... that's what I want to do. I've been thinking about teaching at the college level for a long time now, but after this summer the age group has moved down. I want to teach in a high school. I'm going to finish my computer science degree--I'm so close there's no way I'd abandon it. But I'm talking to an adviser at the Ed School to see what I can do about also earning a math-ed degree by December 2010. I'm sure I can do it.

During our last staff meeting this summer, our camp director (who'd been with the camp for about 10 years) had some wonderful things to tell us. She told us our team was the most cohesive, respectful team she'd worked with. Our ratings from the camper surveys were the highest among all of this company's six camps, as well as very high compared to other years. There were a number of camps on the same campus as ours, and the camps coordinator told her that our camp was the best behaved and best supervised of them all. This was particularly awesome because our campers were ages 8-17, and some of the other camps were all adults. Ha ha ha.

Anyway. It was awesome. But I am glad to be home, to see everyone. Jesse's coming back to Verm tomorrow, so I'm stoked about that. During the day I think I'll pop in at the Comp Sci department and catch up with the people there. I'm going to take it easy these couple of weeks before school starts. I'll catch up on the sleep I've missed this summer, and get ready for the intense schedule I'll need to have, cramming in enough courses for an ed degree by fall 2010. It's gonna be rough. But I think I'm going to like it. After all, it was a rough summer, but I absolutely loved it.

So, I'm a counselor at a summer camp in the Chicago area. Who would have thought? Granted, it's a technology camp, but we have overnight campers and outside activities and team-building exercises just like any other camp. Some of you who know me will wonder why I chose to do this. I'm not fond of kids, mostly immobile, and teamwork is often a bust.

But that is EXACTLY why I'm doing it.

Kids: Jesse wants them. Someday. So, I gotta decide whether or not someday is really too soon.

Exercise: I need it.

Teamwork: Who doesn't need it?

I'm also trying to decide whether or not teaching is for me, so this fits right into that discovery process. 

 I'm leading several workshops. One of them is 5 students building a Boe-Bot and developing the AI for handling an maze/obstacle course. One is introductory programming with Judo, and the 7 kids seem to enjoy it. The last is Advanced Web Design, with five kids who are learning CSS, PHP and JavaScript. It's been two days and it's already mostly awesome.

Tonight's one of my two nights off this week. Other nights I'm on duty until every camper is in bed. The oldest campers go to bed at 11pm. I'm definitely going to bed early tonight.

And in the meantime I'm going to catch up a bit online. I'm pretty busy most of the time, so now's my chance.

I just read this week's Volante. I was totally surprised (though I probably shouldn't be) that the Board of Regents is STILL seeking to force all students to buy a laptop.

Now, let me be very clear on this. I am in full support of having wireless access available in every corner of campus, but I do NOT believe that students should be issued computers (laptops, PDAs, whatever), and I do NOT believe that instructors should be forced to deliver their course through any particular media. The Mobile Computing Initiative (MCI), part of the 2010 initiative, is half-right: it seeks to provide the wireless access but it also seeks to "design the deliver of instruction to include the use of mobile computing devices." Thankfully, it leaves alone the idea of issuing laptops to students. In fact, that brief is the source of the following figure. Eighty to ninety percent of South Dakota students already bring a computer to school. Increasingly, they are bringing laptops.

So when I said today that, for that alone, the idea of issuing laptops is a dumb one, I was actually asked "What about the other 10 percent?" My answer: I can't speak for all of South Dakota's institutions, we at USD have plenty of free access. The Link Lab has amazing hours for all students. Computer Science has its lab in McKusick, and even though its hours aren't quite as good as Link Lab, I think that 8:00 a.m. to Midnight is about all the time I need. The B-School has a lab, the residence halls have labs, and the Neuharth Center has a Mac lab. There is plenty of access on this campus. The MCI brief is the first to admit that laptops themselves don't help--it's access to the information. And we have plenty of access for students who do not wish to buy a computer, laptop or otherwise. Problem solved.

So why oh why is there a committee called "The Ubiquitous Mobile Computing Requirement Committee"? Remember, now, Ubiquitous Mobile Computing translates to Laptops/PDAs/iPhones, everywhere. Since iPhones don't work here and PDAs were already a bust years ago, the name of this committee really is "Force Laptops on Everyone Committee" or to be more accurate "Force Laptops on All Students Committee."

So why does this committee exist? Why are they still pursuing the idea? Why are they asking the state of South Dakota to cough up $5.5 Million up front and almost half a million each year after? No idea. But I'll tell you this: if they're going to lease to and then force students to buy laptops at twice or more of their actual worth, how much do you think maintaining the project really costs? And how much do you think that laptop is going to be worth when the student actually owns it, four years later? I'll tell you: A hell of a lot more than $5.5 Million, and NOTHING.

There are a lot of other reasons that this is a bad idea, but seriously, if you aren't convinced by this, you have a problem. It costs too much, and it intends to screw around with my professor's syllabus. No misguided attempt at improving our education should screw around with my professor's syllabus. My professor the expert, in a department full of experts. The Board of Regents can't even tell between a device and the information it allows you to access. Who do YOU want delivering the lecture?

Someone reminded me the other day about these commercials from ten years ago.

You'll definitely need your sound on for the second one. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the one with the policeman. If you know where to find it, please comment. 

So, the first full week of school is coming to a close, and I've finally purchased all my textbooks.

I came up just shy of $400, and I'm a little upset about it. I always manage between $150 and $300 each semester, and suddenly I'm paying 400 bucks?

I blame the special editions. Two of my seven books were over $100 each. One was a seventh edition that has only been released to college bookstores (looks like Amazon gets it mid-semester), so I couldn't get it online at a reasonable price. The other was a special edition with samples of previous work by students, bundled with InSite (which is another rant for another day), and only available at our local stores. When they rang up alone together for $270 I could not believe it. Both, of course, are required for my courses.

For the sake of simplicity, let's round my total bill to $400. I spent $270 on two books. That means I got five books at reasonable prices. The two bestsellers were under $20, and the others were texts between $30 and $40. Granted, they are computer science texts, and I've noticed they can be a little cheaper than other subjects' texts. Computer books is a highly competitive market.

But that begs the question, why don't other subjects have competition that brings the prices down? I'm no economist (though sometimes I pretend to be one through my honors classes), but I really want to know why a book about The Theory of Computation costs one-fourth that of Business Writing. AND I want to know what that's only true online--the local bookstores wanted $75 for my $35 Theory book. Wikipedia starts to answer these questions, but I'm begging any readers out there for more detail. When I saw the cost of my required special edition business writing textbook, I seriously considered dropping the class and Googling the subject instead. I might yet if I hadn't already broken the plastic that bound InSite to it (that plastic is another rant that I don't even want to start).

Anyway, all this book research has led me to really appreciate what Amazon is trying to do with Kindle. I wish I could have spent this semester's $400 on that instead. Some of you might have noticed the attempt that eBook made a few years ago to put electronic texts in the hands of the average Joe. I hope the Kindle goes over better. I really do.

I think it will happen if college professors catch on. A $400 investment in the Kindle gets you access to instant downloads of any available text with its free built-in WiFi connection. And they work with the publishers to bring the prices wwwaaaaayyy down. I saw some college texts available for $10 and $15 for the Kindle. Plus, you can do some PDA things on Kindle, like take notes. The experience of your average lecture class could feasibly be paperless.Think about that. That is sweet.

I'm not one for gadgets (e.g. my no-texting, no-camera cell phone is over two years old). It was a big step for me to ask for a Nintendo DS for my birthday last fall. But the moment I go to class and my professor chooses a book available on Kindle, I'm getting one. It might not happen before I get my degree here, I'll grant you that, but I currently plan on another six years of school.

I want to see the Kindle do well. And so should every college student.

I dig Wired Magazine. Our household subscribes. But some of the most interesting stuff is that which isn't directly related to technology. In the November issue's "What's Inside" we get to know our favorite OTC nighttime drug a little better. I'm talking of course about NyQuil.

In large print at the top of the page, the article greets you with the words "Fortified With Powerful Narcotics!" Of course, we kinda know that beforehand, but it was a nice hook to get you to read the details.

They start, naturally, with the painkiller, acetaminophen. It's the same painkiller in Tylenol. It's the only painkiller that seems to work for me (I have to be careful picking out medicine, because ibuprofen does nothing, aspirin makes my headaches worse, etc), so it was veerrrryyy interesting to see that acetaminophen breaks down in the body to become a cannabinoid. That's right. The same family of compounds that "makes marijuana so irresistible."

Next is dextromethorphan HBR. The bottle lists it as a cough suppressant, but it's also "a painkiller five times as powerful as morphine." Pretty sweet. And it's the component of NyQuil gives its users the more famous highs. "For people whose bodies are unusually slow at metabolizing the drug, even low doses of DXM trigger full-blown 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' psychedelic trips."

The less interesting ingredients are the antihistamine/sleep aid, citric acid, alcohol solvent, thickeners, acid-base balancer, sugar, and that highly recognizable NyQuil flavor. The makers of NyQuil are mum about the flavor, but Wired writers suspect that it's to help prevent psychedelic abuse of the product. I'd have to say... probably.

It's working. I am so happy. For anyone who doesn't know, Supplemental Instruction is a free program for historically difficult classes to add structured study time led by a peer. I lead the SI sessions for CSC150, the introductory computer science course.

Tonight I had record attendance. Out of about 30 students, 7 showed up for tonight's session. That's a great percentage for SI--over 20 percent. And afterward, I was thanked. I was told I'm a good teacher. I saw enlightenment dawn on more than one face tonight, and it was glorious.

I actually get a huge kick out of a six-day streak of no sun. Last week was just nonstop dreary and chilly and rainy. It gives me a twisted sort of smile to think of a week without the sun.

Today is beautiful, though. Bright sun, clear sky, and it even warmed up a bit back toward comfortable. That's good, cuz even though I like miserable weather, Jesse was getting a little crabby. :)

On the last day of overcast/drizzle, I got this song stuck in my head. Of course, the version I think of is actually Alan Rickman singing in the movie Truly Madly Deeply, but whatever.

"Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Today is Oct 11, the closest date that Jesse and I could nail down for our anniversary. One year ago today we made it official on Facebook. We had started hanging out exclusively about a week before that, but out of all the possible days--first date, first kiss, first meet-the-parents, etc.--the Facebook date fell right in the middle. How gloriously geeky. Like us.

 I'm so happy. I love you Jesse.
 

I bought a new jigsaw puzzle the other day.

My favorite puzzles are by Schimmel. His style is called "eco-surrealism" and he kinda has a thing for jungle cats and arctic wildlife.

I like his puzzles because they are ridiculously difficult.

The Wal-Mart in this town, however, is currently only carrying his glow-in-the-dark line, which is really cute, but not as difficult.

Oh well. I still bought one. And it's going to be awesome.

So yesterday I got ambushed, twice, while I was trying to take a nap.

They were two phone calls, from some company (they never slowed down enough that I could write down the company name), selling magazine deals. Five magazines for $3 and some change per week. For signing up I also get some free watch and an entry into a sweepstakes sponsored by Visa and Mastercard. Sounded pretty good. So, sure, why not. Gave them my info (they already had my address and knew I was a Visa holder), went back to lie down.

Thought about it. Got really sketched out. Tried calling back the number, got an answering machine (which still wouldn't tell me the name of the company), left a message requesting information. Reverse phone lookup showed it as a residential landline in Tampa, FL. Severely sketchy. Left another message early this morning.

Finally got another call from them just now. A third person, some woman, calling to confirm my information. Had no idea I'd left two messages. I indulged her confirmation questions until she asked if I understood the reason for the deal and the sweepstakes. I said I'd like to hear the full terms of the sweepstakes again, and she kinda sputtered like no one had ever asked that before. So I told her I changed my mind and I don't want the deal.

First she asked why. I indulged this question as well, though I was inclined not to, and I told her yesterday's two guys were pretty good salesman, talked me into it, and after sleeping on it I changed my mind. Plus it's unacceptable not to be able to reach anyone with my questions. So I'd like the order cancelled.

Then she got an attitude. Told me she really couldn't, the order had already been placed, and asked me to see it from her "company's point of view." Tried to reassure me when I implied that this whole thing smelled like a scam. Asked why I would approve the order yesterday if I didn't have any interest in it. Tried to sell me three different shorter/starter/student deals. I finally had to tell her that the more she tried to sell to me instead of listen to me, the more I found her company's methods unacceptable. I told her that I know an order can be canceled, and if she couldn't do it then she would have to direct me to someone who could.

Her whole tone changed as she said, "Well, obviously we won't be able to work this out, so I'll just cancel that order."

I resisted the urge to say FINALLY, and opted for "Thank you, that is all I want." And then we said good day. Longest nine-minute phone call ever.

Tonight at Midnight, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be sold to millions of fans. Including me.

Yes, even here in Huntsville, a 12-hour drive away from home and fellow HP fans I know, I've decided to attend a Barnes and Noble midnight party. I just wish I'd remembered to bring my witch's hat. I think I'm going to look for one at Wal-Mart or Target.

It's kind of a bittersweet moment. A long-awaited book, but the end of the series.

Fortunately I'm enough of a dork to have my own Harry Potter web site. That'll definitely get me through any sorrows. :)

At about 9 am Saturday a bunch of us NASA interns got on the road to Atlanta. We spent the day at Six Flags over Georgia. It totally rocked my face off. Although an end-of-the-night thunderstorm prevented us from trying one of the big coasters, I'd say I got my fill of rollercoaster awesomeness. Plus, Ben, Heather and I also tried the Dare Devil Dive. At a ridiculous $20 each, this thing was like a giant swingset. They strap you in, raise you up 100 feet, and let you drop. I got to pull the ripcord. It was so worth it :)