Month: April 2008

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Well, I’m finally here. After not being able to check in early (which is obvious), we headed to the convention (photos later). I don’t know what I liked more: the massive amount of vendors there, or getting free lunch.

I’ll have to say free lunch, because any free lunch is a good lunch. We had to sit through a discussion on direct-to-person marketing for digital entities, but it was kind of interesting.

Anyway, I’m not going to dwell. The photos I post later and throughout the week will tell all.

Pool time…

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Oh, the wonders of wonders. There is a wireless connection emendating somewhere from the cabin. Where, I don’t know, and I’m not trying to connect to it.

Anyway, as sleep is proving kind of unattainable at the moment, I figure, why not blog?

In the latest election flap, Hillary Clinton is calling Barack Obama out on his small town comments. Basically, he says that because the government hasn’t served them well, small town folk are bitter, and when they’re bitter, they turn to their guns and religion. Clinton claims this is a horrible way of describing these people, especially in the state of Pennsylvania.

The response from these comments by the blogosphere and media is typical, and follows just about every other scandal that’s come up in this primary season. Depending on where loyalties lie, this either affects Obama a great deal (some claim yet again his campaign is over), or that these comments will be of little consequence come Pennsylvania’s primary.

While I think that Obama’s statement could have been a little more wisely worded, I’d consider myself part of the camp that thinks these words will have little effect on the upcoming primary. Perhaps if it was about a week closer to the primary would his words have more effects on the decisions of Pennsylvania voters.

But, with a week and a half to go, Obama has time to clarify what he said. He has already made a statement to the effect (more on it later; didn’t have time to read it, what with packing and the early as heck wake up). Obama has learned from old mistakes. Last time, during the Rev. Wright affair, he took a long time to speak up, and for a while it seemed that was to his detriment. But, with both what he said then, and what he’s saying now, voters will have a full week and a half to make up their minds.

So, was it a stupid thing to say? Sure. Will it have as much effect as Clinton is hoping, come primary day? I think it’s unlikely, and to keep bringing it up says a lot about her campaign tactics. Even if Obama’s campaigning is a little naive in nature, I know which strategy I like better.

I’ll post this up once I’m back on solid ground.

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My carry-on.My suitcase.

As you can see from above, I am packing for the trip. In a little over 5 hours from now, I will be heading across campus to board the van taking the group of us to the airport.

I must say, though, packing is and always will be a pain. You’re constantly have a list running through your head and are always worried about missing something essential. I think I’m pretty okay at this point, though. I have all the clothes I need, including any dress clothes. In my carry-on is all the essentials, including my meds, the resumes I’ll be handing out to prospective employers, some chargers, and my laptop.

The carry-on is neat enough. It’s one of those bags you can sling around your shoulder and carry fairly easily. It’s pretty comfortable, too, and is a lot better option for my laptop than my old case, which always seemed to get too heavy after a while of carrying it. It’ll work. Though at first I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to fit everything I wanted in there, it seems to all have worked out in the end.

Alright, can’t stick around too long. Final packing to do, and then a little cleaning around the common areas of my room, since I won’t be here next week for room inspections.

I’ll try and make another entry from the airport, perhaps before if I’m lucky.

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It is here, my friends, at long last.

One of the things that always bugged me at WordPress was how cluttered it was. It was difficult to navigate, and just looked all sorts of messy.

The developers at WordPress have switched things up with 2.5. Gone is the day of a messy admin layout, and come is the day of the clean layout.

Thus far, I’m impressed. I feel things are laid out in a more common sense fashion than previous versions. The more common elements are enlarged and placed on the left side. The least common elements of the admin panel are made smaller and aligned right.

I also like the new dashboard. I didn’t have much beef with the old version, but the layout in 2.5 is very nice.

Finally, there are some new features to the write/edit screens that I like. WordPress has finally added the ability to embed videos. Previously, you had to use a plug-in, which kind of sucked, given the flexible nature of today’s blog. I think if anything, that’s where WordPress was lagging behind. They have also made it easier to add photos and other media. Good for them.

I’m not an incredibly big fan of the new placement of the category selection. If they’re trying to promote tags over categories, it shows, as the tag form comes before the categories. They used to be at the right of the textbox, and I can’t speak for others, but I preferred them there.

A Change

As I’ve spoken about before, I’ll be bringing my laptop with me to Las Vegas, so that I might try and live blog the NAB/BEA conferences. Thus circumstances require some changes. My hotel has free wireless, and I’m fairly certain I’ll be able to get to wi-fi hotspots easily enough on the floor of the convention. Now, assuming this, it’ll be easy enough to get to the blog. But, I’ll be looking around all day. I don’t want to constantly have to go over to the WP admin panel.

Therefore, I’ve downloaded Windows Live Writer. It’s Microsoft’s answer to all the other desktop clients out there, and the official client of their Spaces service. I figure that it’ll be a lot more convenient. I just open that up, write what I want, add any pictures, and publish. A lot easier than even the new-fangled photo and video adding features of WP can give me, I think.

Next week will give me a chance to really try the program out. If I like it, it’ll became a permanent fixture in my blogging. We shall see.

Now off to bed…

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I’m going to be changing things up a bit for IC 2008.  I will no longer list the issues and the candidate’s stance on them.  They have websites.  You can see for yourselves.  I will continue to analyize them, however.

For the first time in the IC 2008 series, the one I’ve picked to analyze has a Vice Presidential running mate!

Bios

Steve Adams is  a software designer at a local technology company.  At 42, Adams volunteers at his local Methodist and Lutheran Church.  Adams graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.S. in Computer Science.  In his spare time, he practices Tae Kwon Do and Okinawan Kempo.  He is a rider with the Patriot Guard Riders.

His running mate, Bob Hargis, is the Executive Director of the largest Ambulance Service in Southern Oklahoma.  Like Adams, Hargis has a record of community service, working with church groups, and going around to help people.  Mostly recently (via the website), he traveled to Kenya to teach EMT instructors, so that they can better teach their own EMTs.

Analyis of Issues

  • Adams does not support abortion.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, neither do I, but neither do I think such an issue comes under governmental control.
  • Like several of the mainstream candidates such as Mike Huckabee, Mike Gravel, and like some other independents, such as Donald K. Allen, Adams supports the Fair Tax system.  You know, the more I see the widespread support it has among candidates, from conservatives to liberals, the more it’s catching on to me.  The tax system as we have now is a mess.  And yes, we hear all kinds of rhetoric about wanting to fix it, but no real plans.  Nothing that has any meat, anyway.  So far, Fair Tax is the most thought out plan I’ve found.
  • I like Adams’ ideas on energy and the environment.  I throw up in my mouth a little when I hear the phrase “carbon credits.”  What a stupid idea.  “Let me buy these credits so I can pollute more and not be penalized!  And all kinds of corporations do it, including “do no evil” Google.  Instead, as I’ve noted before in this blog, we need a mixture of solutions.  One solution for electricity generation and one for cars isn’t going to do it.  This is America.  Bring ’em all on, I say, and may the best idea for energy independence/conservation win.
  • He is for removing the electoral college, and he has my backing there.  It needs to be scrapped.  He is also against Gerrymandering, as am I.  No matter which party is doing it, gerrymandering should be illegal.
  • I support his moderate gun control policies.  This isn’t a guy who’s like, “My god, I can’t get my gun in 5 minutes?  Gwarsh!” but he’s also not a “Take ’em all away.” liberal.  He seems to understand the need for proper background checking.  Nothing specific on checks for prior mental illness, but I’m guessing he’d be for it.
  • I’m a little confused on his stance on marriage. I understand that he seems to be against gay marriage, and says that he’d support legislation or a constitutional amendment to ban it.  Yet, later in that section, he says the government should stay out of moral issues such as marriage.  Search me, but I think a little clarity is needed there.  So, hard to analyze this one, except to say I’m against the particular stance on gay marriage.
  • Finally, war and the military.  I definitely agree with what he says on the need to be ready for action where needed.  He also thinks that if Iraq is in the midst of a civil war, then we need to get out, leave a small force for training, and turn things over to the Iraqi government.  This appears to be a little older, but with the exception of the civil war part, mostly I agree.  It is time to trim down our forces.  If al-Maliki really is making some headway, doesn’t that mean we can start leaving?  I say, leave some forces for training, and perhaps small missions, and get most of our forces out.  Bring them home.

I need to study Adams/Hargis some more.  So far, I believe they are the most intriguing independent candidates for the Presidency/VP I’ve seen so far.

That’s it for IC this time.  Unfortunately, I can’t promise another one until after Vegas.  Simply no time to do it until then.

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I would like to take a moment to quote that oft-quoted quote: “Hindsight is 20/20.”

In this case, it’s about college choices. Lets go back to the beginning:

In my Freshman year, my first ever political science teacher made the suggestion that I consider double majoring in the subject along with communications. I did consider it for a little while, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was more work than I was willing to put myself through. I reasoned that if failed to live up to the major, that would suck. Plus, at the time, I had a goal of getting out of college in four years, a goal I have now more or less achieved (knock on wood Spring semester classes!). So since halfway through my Sophomore year, political science has been my minor.

Fast forward three and a half years to tonight. I took a break in my studies for my Communication Theory class, and waltzed over to the student information website, which displays all sorts of details about my history at college, including what classes I’ve taken.

Well, I already knew I’d completed most of my requirements, except that lagging Writing Portfolio, which was handed in on Tuesday; it’s just waiting for a grade. The “Degree Evaluation” program is a wonder; it lets you know what you’ve done, what still needs to be done, and all the classes you’ve taken.

On the other hand, it’s not perfect. For example, some classes that are clearly part of my communication major are not listed under that section. It says I have 36 credits done; it’s more like 48. For some reason, it counts some of them only under electives, even though in other sections of the DE, it double dips on the counting.

For my political science minor, some classes are listed as completing General Education Requirements, because apparently those classes are not exclusive to the minor you’re taking, like the major ones are. Still, a couple classes are still not listed in the minor section. Well, I decided to count up all the minor-related classes I’ve taken, including the ones counted as GERs.

It turns out that at this point in time I am one class short of completing the political science major. I have all of the following requirements completed:

  1. The two introductory courses, American Government and Politics and International Relations.
  2. The five political science electives (I actually have six).
  3. Three “skills courses.”

The only course I don’t have is the “Political Research Methods” course.

That sort of sucks. Three and a half years after deciding not to double major, I have almost all the requirements to do it. At this point, I’m unsure if changing the minor into a major would affect much. According to the website, six of the 36 credits can be used to satisfy GERs. Currently, six of my credits do this. However, the website does have discrepancies in other areas, including stating in the introductory paragraph that four skills courses are required compared to the three used elsewhere, and an initial statement of requiring 36 credits for the minor, then saying 24 in the very next sentence.

There’s another problem I currently have. I believe that in most majors at my school, a C or better is required to avoid needing to re-take a class. In one of my skills courses, I didn’t do so hot, so I might of had to re-take it, had I double majored.

All that aside, there are three possible options, depending on certain circumstances:

  1. Assuming that I didn’t have to substitute any GERs, and that I didn’t have to re-take the skills course, I could see if the Research Methods course is offered during the summer. Of course, this would require $900 I just don’t have and already used for my internship last summer; money gone to waste for never seeing my adviser in person.
  2. Take another semester. This might be my preferred option between this and the first, since it would cost less for me if I got financial aid. Not having filled out a FAFSA this year might makes things difficult, though. Still, assuming I could get financial aid, I would get the chance to be part of the TV club for one more semester. On the other hand, getting financial aid would also mean having to take at least 12 credits, and I’m not sure if I could actually find any courses at this point. Everybody’s already registered. So, while is the preferred option, it’s highly unachievable at this late in the game.
  3. Do nothing, and graduate in May. Of all three options, this is probably the one I like the most, yet the one I’m most torn about. I’m happy to move on from the academic side of things, but don’t want to leave the club, which is what’s appealing about option . Still, between not having $900, and the unlikeliness of getting financial aid, is the most realistic option at this point.

If I had foreseen three and a half years ago that at this point in my college career, I’d be one course away from getting two degrees this May, I probably would have gone for it. It would have required significantly more work, but I think I could have done it.

Yet, here I am, with 20/20 hindsight hitting me hard. Still, I’m not very disappointed about my decision to go with a minor back then instead of a major. Since halfway through my Sophomore year of high school, I felt pretty confident I knew where my future lie. And in the almost six and a half years since then, I haven’t felt wrong about it once. On the other hand, the thought of knowing I could have gotten two degrees in May will live with me for a long time.

Here’s to the future…

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Well, I know one sign that my cold/allergies/upper respiratory infection is more or less gone.  More productivity!

Last week and the week before were pretty much marked by a general unwillingness to do stuff.  Sure, I got stuff done – a rough draft of a PSA I’m working on for a competition, among other things – but the two weeks just felt like a real lull.  I was tired, fatigued, and felt burnt out every night.

Compare to this week.  I shot a package yesterday, got the VOs done today, got halfway done with a video resume last night, more or less completed major work on the PSA today, handed in my writing portfolio today.  Heck, I even sat through two hours of a class that I took last semester, just because I wanted to hear critiques of the PSA (a member of the team is working on it for the class).

Then I came back here, wrote readers, a VO, and an intro and tag and emailed them, changed my sheets, and folded my clothes.  I’d claim reading 98 blog posts in my productivity list, but I actually just skimmed through a lot of them, and only read ones that got my attention.  Can’t win them all, I guess.

I don’t know what it is.  Some of it is that I know I needed to get some stuff done.  Like the Writing Portfolio.  It’s a school requirement that everybody has to do, major independent.  With my trip to Vegas coming up, that’d be a whole week gone without doing it.  Then I’d come back and be caught up with planning for the next Eastern Expedition.  Under the circumstances, I guess this is the best week to do it.

Stuff to get done:

  1. Finish editing the package, including capturing the VOs (tomorrow)
  2. Finish editing the video resume, and get some opinions on it.
  3. Do a one-over of my resume for next week, and make a generalized cover letter.
  4. Prepare for phone interview.
  5. Get letter from gastro doctor (tomorrow I hope).
  6. Pack for Vegas (Friday & the weekend)

Quite a bit to before Monday, but I know it’ll get done.

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Update 9:07pm: Hmm.  If there’s anything I can say, it’s that they didn’t get destroyed.  Lost by 9.

Oh boy. I’m watching the game right now, and it’s not looking good for my home state team, UConn, right now.

They’ve been down since at least shortly before the half, and haven’t caught up since. They’ve come close, but are now down by 9 with 1:07 to go. I’m not seeing a comeback here, but you never know.

I’m not confident that UConn is going to the championship.