School

I'm trying to get my Linux on. Each time I get started School comes back around and I fall back into panic mode, where something has to be done right away and so I lean back on Windows. What a crutch.

This time I think I'm pretty well off. I've got my firefox installed, and I've pretty much got the network to where I can pass things back and forth between Kubuntu and XP.

I know, I know. What do I need XP for? Just think of Linus and his security blanket. The peanut not the kernal developer.

I'm not dead. However, it is clear to me now that school is trying to kill me. I'm careful not bump my head because I'm afraid it may burst from the pressure. Wearing my cycling helmet during my waking hours, has become a serious consideration.

I've also taken on some network administration duties at work, which have kept me hopping.

I haven't forgotten this blog, though I don't have any grounds to complain if its readers have forgotten me. We do what we can. Its not like there aren't 40 gigazillion other blogs to keep you occupied while I'm busy with school. 

Still, it is cool of you to drop by. Thanks.

I got an A in my computer hardware class and an A in economics.

My running joke about economics class has been, "I don't mind if I come out of this class knowing something about economics, but I'm gonna be pissed if I come out a Republican."

I'm not a Republican.

Economics class was just weird. To start off with, the whole class was taught from a perspective that free enterprise, augmented with taxes and regulations, is the only economics system in existence. Nothing about socialism, communisim, nothing about any economic system other than free enterprise.

I did learn quite a few things that I did not know. Some of what I learned changed my opinion on some issues. For the most part though, it seemd like an indoctrination. Maybe that's a little strong, but I felt that there was really only one point of view that was the right point of view and everything else was subject to ridicule or dismissal.

For me the bottom line goes sort of like this. There are lots of folks out there that are dedicated to making money, who have no limits to their greed and avarice. The notion that we should just get out of the way and let these kind folks do their business, and then everything will be fine is ludicrous.

There are plenty of good people doing business. People with integrity and forethought, and it only takes a small crowd of greedy sons of bitches to trample right over them in a race to turn the world into a toilet.

So, am I for trade? Yes. Absolutely, yes. Comparative advantage, that's the economic term for why trade is good. Do I think we should buy goods form the Chinese and not push for better working conditions for their laborers. No, absolutely not. I do I think we should continue to import oil from Suadi Arabia and not push for equal rights for the women in their country? No, never.

Where we spend, and who we spend with, says something about who we are. Do we want to be the greedy children, who care nothing for the consequences of fulfilling our lust for ...stuff?

Think before you spend.

Well, we're half-way through the term and the only system of economics mentioned so far has been...you guessed it, free enteprise. It's as if nothing else ever existed. I was talking about this at a dinner party Saturday. I compared it to American history in grade school, where they left out any of the details that might soil our faith in old glory. To which Deanna replied, "And then we won the West!"

I don't blame the professor. He seems openminded, and the text wasn't his choice. The book went so far as to bring up an issue in which it admitted economists have differing opinions on, and then laid the arguments...for one side. All I'm asking for is just the barest amount of critical thinking, please!

When I grow up I'm going to blog constitently. I'll also find a blog tool that lets me check my spelling. consistently? consistantly? When I try to use my google spellcheck, Serendipity freaks the hell right out. Suddenly, instead of a blog post I've got something from William S. Burroughs on my hands. 

I've been very busy. Actually having to work at work. School has decided to get serious as well. WFT guys? I thought everything was cool. Obviously, you didn't take my "School and Work sitting in a tree" poem very well. Alright, I can hang. You do what you think you need to do, I'll deal with it. But I'm not passing notes between you two anymore.

Dollev, asked me to write a theme for his internet radio show, which is so very cool you can only listen by invitation. Lucky for you , I've got an in so give my your e-mail and I'll get you on the guest list. I've written a ton of stuff for the shows theme but nothing has seemed to stick. I've got one going right now that I think might do the trick.

Back to work.

It's the last week of the term and I've been working on my final projects. For Intro to Programming I have to work out the logic for a report. I think I'm about there, but it's still up in the air as to whether I'm designing a program or just working my way closer to a an brain aneurysm.

The Database Management final is coming along. The big draw back there is I can't work at it while I've got downtime at work. The client I represent uses Access '97 and my schoolwork is in Access 2003. The two are not compatable. So, I have to keep Access as '97 at work. You can change a database from '97 to 2003 but then you can never go back again.

Keep your fingers crossed. It's looking like I'm good for two more A's. If I can get my associate's degree with a 4.0, California will fall into the sea! I'll be one step closer to world domination! When I get my bachelor's with a 4.0, I shall bring the end of time, or at the very least force CBS to begin shooting new episodes of "Punky Brewster," with a cast made up entirely of chimpanzees.

I'm at the tail end of my programming class. It hasn't been to difficult until now. It's hurting my brain, bad hurt, bad. I get the sense that I'm making what I'm trying to do more difficult than it has to be. I'll get there, eventually. It's a bit like the climax of a bad action movie. Will he write a properly formed program before his head explodes?

Also, it's hard to concentrate. I'm very excited about the marathon on Sunday.

My goal is to write a program that will qualify me for the Boston Marathon. I know, apples and oranges. But when Loius Pasteur taught a cow how to eat grass in a  field or "pasture" as it were, giving us "pasturized" milk, nobody asked him what the white stuff flying out of schoolboys noses had to do with science, did they?

I didn't think so.

Two more weeks and then I get a weeks break until my fifth term starts. God speed brave scholars!

I should be reading my Intro to Programming assignment, but I thought I'd better check in here and try to pen something observant and pithy. Unfortunately, the observant and pithy part of my brain usually occupies itself with politics. I don't generally blog about politics for the ubiquitous reason that, say it with me, "So many do it better than I ever could."   

So, I'll just give you the run down on school instead. Not long after I turn 47, I should be finishing a task that most folks have accomplished before they've passed out on a jail house floor, for the first time. (For those of you not in the know, 25 is the optimum age for loosing consciousness in an enclosed area inhabited by criminals, of which you are one.)

Wayward past aside, I think I waited just the right amount of time. You know, it's not always a good idea to rush right into college after high school. Sometimes you just need to take a little time to find out who you are, what it is you want to do with your life. Go backpacking through Europe, spend some time working in your old man's factory, or maybe hitchhike throughout the south, ending up in a early '70s Mustang with I guy named Shakes, who is stealing gas all the way from Atlanta to Detroit. The point is you need to know something about yourself before you climb into an black van with no licence plate on I-75 somewhere south of Knoxville,... no that's not it... I meant before you climb into a serious endeavor that will take several years to bring to fruition.

Apparently, gaining that inner knowledge, finding the still small voice, if you will, has taken me, perhaps, a bit longer than others. A quarter of a century qualifies as a bit, I would say. None the less, I have arrived. I am a student. I am "getting an education". And with an education, the world is my oyster. Being a strict vegetarian, I'm not sure what I'll with this oyster-world once I get it, but I'm looking at some salt water aquariums and I'll do my best to keep it alive as long as I possibly can. So, if there's anything you want to do with your life, I wouldn't put it off. I should graduate somewhere around May of 2009.

Yes, that's right, school starts tomorrow. This term consists of Intro to Programming and Intro to Database Management. I'm hoping that I will be able to approach these classes in a more balanced manner than some of my earlier academic endeavors. Both of these sound a tad intimidating, but from the look of the book for Intro to Database Management it's clear we will be concertating on Microsoft Access, (I cleverly gleaned that bit of knowledge from the title, which is something like, Microsoft Access, You Will Learn It Now). I'm looking forward to Intro to Programming. It's my hope that I will find it interesting enough to
take it on as a sort of ancillary skill, to compliment my network
adminstrator aspirations.

Since we've been on break I've had a lot of time on my hands, which I've had trouble filling up. I don't relax well. What with the running, and the music, and the blogging, and the website, and the construction, and the lawnwork, and the household chores, and the job, I have enough to do. Not relaxing is one way I avoid being present in my life. Yes, that is "present in my life." That's touchy feely speak, which descibes the opposite of being a self absorbed emotional cripple.

So, when school kicks in I will have to keep myself in check and make sure that I am cognizant of the fact that I am not actually the center of the universe and that other people require my attention.

I just finished what will be my final project for my Intro to Web Design class. It's not due for a couple of weeks and I'll definitely proofread it some more, but still, it feels good to have a big jump on things. The class was pretty basic, but I learned quite a number of few useful things. I'm glad I'm getting some formal training in IT. I'm no IT wiz, so for me, there's just so far I can go trying to figure things out on my own.

Next, is the final paper for my Intro to IT class. It only has to be around four or five pages and that's double spaced. Shouldn't be to much of a problem. I get the feeling things are going to get harder from here on out, though.