The Nexus of the Universe

I replaced the shower diverter valve I mentioned in last night's post.

Had to go to a plumbing parts store to get a replacement (rather than Home Depot, since it wasn't a common brand) and then had some troubles getting the replacement to work as expected.

Anyway, it's done and appears to be working. Definitely spent a little too much time and effort on it, but at least I learned a little bit in the process.

I've been having troubles with the diverter valve for my shower. Basically, most water continues to flow to the faucet rather than the shower.

No problem, right? Just take that diverter valve out and replace it! Nope.

First, had to figure out what the hell I was doing -- some research and chatting with folks.

Then, had to try to get the actual knob off. Eh. Not quite. I didn't have any cool tools (e.g., http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/images/handlepuller.jpg) to help me get the knob off and it was way too tight to pull/jar it loose without risking damage to the plumbing or tile. I bet that 20 years of corrosion/lime/soap/calcium build-up could compete against superglue any day.

I was finally able to get behind the knob without removing it, by shifting the plate that sits against the tile (too difficult to explain in a blog). I then was able to remove the entire valve (this was actually the easiest part), with knob still attached.

I quickly identified am old, broken-apart washer that was responsible for the problem. I still wanted to get a whole new valve, and to do so, wanted to remove the knob which was still attached. Unfortunately, this brand has some funky configuration that you don't see very often (and I could only find in one or two spots online after a lot of hunting)... so it took me another 30 minutes of playing around to find a way to remove the knob without destroying everything. (Note the white thread on the stem here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00068II82/ref=nosim/ That's what was on mine that I didn't see on most others, and made it a bit confusing in trying to compare to typical valves and figure out how to remove the knob.)

I'll now have to wait til tomorrow to replace the valve (or maybe just get a replacement washer?). I'd actually like to go ahead and replace all the valves and knobs for the whole shower, but I'm not sure I feel like it quite yet. Either way, I'm stuck finishing this up tomorrow after work rather than just being done with it tonight. At least I have a second shower.

This is how most of my home repair/improvement work has gone -- I often have "non-standard" parts or configurations to worry about, there's often a problem, and I always take longer than I anticipated. And I do fairly little compared to others. I suspect this level of aggravation is common to everyone, unfortunately.

This is why I work with computers: Because they never break and everything is always configured to a well-known standard. ;-)

So I'm grading exams this week, then I can relax until late December or so when I start preparing for next semester.

I received two emails from students with some kind words regarding their experience in my class, which were satisfying to read. (Still no ratings on ratemyprofessors.com!) I also received a copy of a report sent from my "peer mentor" who had some positive things to say. (The "mentor" was another faculty member assigned to assist me during the semester, with whom I really only had limited contact, but who could see my online classroom.) I'm feeling pretty good about the whole teaching thing :-) While I expect to be busy with two classes next semester, I expect to be a little more comfortable and have more accurate expectations.

At work (my full-time job!), my workload was getting a bit out of hand, but after a much-needed discussion with a couple folks in the last week, I think my workload will now return to manageable levels. At least I can still say that the work is still challenging.

PS: Off-topic, but just had to say that the Star Trek Blu-Ray looked incredible, and I enjoyed watching in my small home theatre. Had some folks over for drinking and trekking and had a good time (the part of it I can actually remember!). One of the folks who watched it felt that the use of surround sound was fairly limited; I agreed but after watching a few scenes over again, and with a minor adjustment to the rear speakers (increased their volume), I now feel that there's actually a decent use of surround sound... it's just subtle rather than excessive. Regardless, the video quality is amazing. Oh, and the movie itself was good too :-)

BTW, I bought a special edition of the Blu-Ray (something I never do) in which the discs are contained in the saucer section of a small model of the Enterprise: http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/zz4da52566.jpg I'm a giant nerd... or is it geek? :-)

I just spent the last hour-and-a-half dealing with an incident of plagiarism. One that was clearly intentional. There was a clear discrepancy between the student's style of writing and the copied passages. The copied text was easy to locate with simple Google searches!

How do people think they can still get away with this? And why would someone risk their academic career? The student might be better off if they took a zero just by choosing not to do the assignment! Now, this individual has to worry if they'll be academically dismissed, which would prevent them from attending any University of Maryland school again.

I had to carefully map out what was copied, locate the sources, review the school's policy carefully, inform the student, and inform my director. That took a lot of time, especially since I tried to be cautious and careful about it. Worse, I first wrote the student a message asking for a response and thoughts on some of the actions I could take (give them a zero, ask for a replacement paper for half-credit, etc.), but then I had to write a follow-up email alerting them that I instead was informing the director of the program since that's what's required in the policy. (I must not have read the policy carefully enough the first time.)

I'm sure this will eat up a good bit of time dealing with the administrative headache too... right when dealing with finals the next two weeks.

What upsets me more is that I have 17 more papers sitting here, mocking me and my lack of free time, 4 or 5 of which I could have read and graded in that amount of time.

EDIT (an hour later): I just found a SECOND instance of plagiarism. This individual just copied an entire web site and put a title page on it. Seriously -- didn't even try to change anything, including typos from the original web site! Unbelievable. I can't wait to read the other papers -- they're going to be a treat compared to this crap.

My academic director wrote me and asked if I'd drop my second Windows Server 2008 course and instead teach Active Directory. (In other words, I'm teaching a Server course and an AD course in the Spring.)

Active Directory is much more interesting to me, so I'm looking forward to the class. Of course, this also means that I can't duplicate the course content, and have to prepare two different sets of materials. I also don't know what to expect in terms of that course's textbook or labs. Oh well -- I'm just excited to be able to teach AD!

This post is a little long, but worthwhile. If you like subtle humor, you’re in for a treat ;-)

I used to get rid of the many leaves on my front lawn the same way every other suburbanite (read: "sucker") does: Either rake and bag, or rake and use a leaf blower/shredder. The last couple years, I’ve raked into piles, used a Toro leaf shredder (converts between a blower and shredder, works great!), and emptied about 10 bags of leaves into woods behind my home. In the process, I’d be coughing up leaf molecules for the rest of the day and be tired and in pain.

With the huge tree (and above-ground roots) that used to plague me now completely gone, a new option presented itself: mulch the leaves in place using a mower. I have a nice electric mulching mower, which mows close to the ground and doesn’t use the side chute. I read online how many other folks use this method, and the only big downside is a slightly brownish lawn (leaf bits).

So, I used my IT project management skills to approach this:

Requirements: Get rid of the leaves. Make my life easier. Provide nutrients for the crappy soil in my currently spotty lawn. Make sure that laziness does not appear as a factor in the decision.

Scope: Leaf removal from entire front lawn, and remove most of leaves from my “garden” area and trash can “box” (wooden fence acting like a trash can “hideaway”). If possible, try to kill neighbor’s tree so as to never deal with leaves again. If possible, develop some sort of arbor virus to remove leaf problem for all of mankind, and win Nobel in Science. Is there a “Tree Flu”?

Constraints: Get it done in only ~30 minutes (the time between getting home and sunset). Don’t accidently damage any limbs (human, not tree).

Risks: Neighbor(s) could give me a hard time about the method (“Hey, you lazy bastard! Just rake your damn leaves like all the other sheep!”). Neighbors might try to talk to me while I’m busy mowing (“Hey, you trying to hurry up before sunset? Let’s talk awhile!”). Lawn could look like shit when done (more of a problem for my neighbors, who care about such things, than for me).

Ways to mitigate risks: Ignore neighbors. Keep mowing while neighbors trying to talk (“Sure, I hear ya, keep talking.”). Don’t give a shit about the lawn’s appearance. Have cold beer on standby.

Plan: Rake leaves out of the hard-to-reach places into the center of the lawn. Get the mower out. Mow in one spot to see how bad it looks. Even if it looks bad, pretend it looks OK. Mow like hell to get done in the remaining 25 minutes.

Lessons learned:

• Only dealt with one neighbor, and he thought it was a good idea. I didn’t give him much time to chat, and my none-too-subtle comment that I was battling the setting sun was enough of a hint to “keep on walkin’.” :-)
• Lawn didn’t look bad afterwards, but the original spottiness of the grass is fairly obvious since the grass is so low. Relying on the “not giving a shit” risk mitigation strategy to deal with this.
• Have to watch grass to make sure it doesn’t die now that it’s so short and it’s November. If it does, then I’ll just black-top it.
• Don’t wait so late next time to mulch – too many leaves make it harder to mow without leaves spraying everywhere. Also, things can be hiding under the huge leaf piles, like large branches, stones, and small children. Surprisingly, children mulch well, and they’re great for fertilizing the soil.
• Still ended up breathing in plenty of dust, but still less than if I had shredded the leaves using my Toro and had to empty the bags. My alveoli needed a workout anyway. (Go Google that if you’re not familiar.)  Fortunately, mulching didn't break the leaves into too tiny of bits -- my Toro used to break them down at the quark level, resulting in leaves not only entering my lungs but even my bloodstream.
• Ended up getting rid of leaves in a fraction of the time it used to take and with a fraction of the work.  Mottos I'm living by: “Work smarter, not harder” and “Don't care that much about the quality of the end result.”  (I learned that one from work!)
• Combining the mower with the Toro (for sucking effect) would be awesome, yet potentially dangerous :-) Seems like a worthwhile risk.  Could backfire and begin pulling up grass and soil as well... could potentially feedback on itself and form a blackhole.  A real possibility.  I've seen science shows.  At least it's not powered by red matter.  ;-)
• I may consider just “burning off” the leaves next time, and pretend it was simply an accident if the neighbors question it. “I’m not sure how the lighter fluid ended up all over the lawn, and was ignited, and why I just sat here watching it and laughing maniacally!”
• I’m waiting for the next big gust of wind to pull all the leaf bits up off the soil/lawn into passing neighbors and cars. I’m considering mounting a video camera and recording that special moment.

OK – so I’m going overboard with my analysis for comedic purposes. But you get the idea – overall, I think it worked well, and now I want to watch to see how the lawn does now that it’s so short. If it’s OK, then I’ll handle it the same way again in a couple of weeks...

 

If you've started reading this just because of "Death Star Pumpkin" in the subject line, then just jump to the bottom.

I've been working my a$$ off recently. Work's been busy... I'll just leave it at that.

I spent a good bit of time grading group papers for my class. I can tell that my expectations are now aligning with reality -- the papers were a mix of quality, and I've actually found that there are definitely a number of students who are performing quite well and with whose work I'm pleased. I'm down to just a few weeks left in the course, and am preparing for a final onslaught of work. I don't think I'll have any problems, and it'll be really interesting to see the final grade distribution. I've been learning quite a bit, and have some good ideas for next semester's classes.

Let me end this post with a few random notes:

- I love my iPhone. I've downloaded too many free apps though, and now have a little trouble finding the one I want since I have to scroll through over 90!
- It's November already? Wow. I'm considering getting started on Christmas shopping considering every year it sneaks up on me.
- This xkcd comic made me laugh today: http://xkcd.com/656/

Happy Halloween! I wish I had the patience to carve this pumpkin. What is that shape exactly? Hint: That's no moon.

[First, I should apologize for the forced pun in the subject line. I supposed I should be ashamed enough to change it... but I'm not :-)]

It appears that I'll be teaching two class sessions next semester (compared to my current one). It'll be the same course I'm teaching now, but I'm not sure yet if it'll use the same textbook. It would be a huge benefit if so (so I can re-use some of my materials).

There is a minor problem with me confirming my acceptance: I received an email on Friday from an automated system, requiring that I reply to it within 72 hours to confirm my appointment (to the two classes). I replied, but then quickly received a bounceback (a message alerting me that the recipient address doesn't actually exist). I think the system sent out their messages with an incorrect address. I forwarded my reply and bounceback along to my director with the hope that there will be no complication, but I expect that I might not hear back until I get alerted by some other automated system to tell me about my new contract. [EDIT 10/19/09: I just received a message from the director confirming my confirmation ;-)]

I expect next semester to go much more smoothly:

• I am now in the school's HR system, so the employment and certification process won't exist.


• The textbook backorder/delays that plagued my class (and some other classes) will hopefully not exist again.


• The online classroom environment is being upgraded for next semester. While not perfect, it'll be an improvement.


• I've learned a number of lessons: I believe my expectations are now well-aligned with reality, I understand how much personal time I invest per class, and I have several ideas on how to modify my course content and assignments.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33348615/ns/politics-more_politics/

"The imbalance for the budget year ended Sept. 30 more than tripled last year's record. The Obama administration projects deficits will total $9.1 trillion over the next decade unless corrective action is taken."

Ugh. Maybe our now-Nobel-winner president can use his Superhuman Powers of Peace to "piece" together (ouch, that was a forced pun) a solution to cutting our deficit.

Here is a great comparison of Bush spending v. Obama spending. Be sure to read down through the last paragraph if you bother going to the link: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/ (By the way, while I realize that heritage.org is a conservative-run site, the graphic is from the Washington Post.)

I like this line: "...given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious."

What are we thinking? How can anyone support this sort of spending? I know some folks want every citizen to have health care, a house, two cars, four kids, 10 pets, free groceries, free job training, and a job for life. But, it's a dream. A dream that definitely won't be realized through government spending.

I have a working iPhone! And I'm currently downloading a bunch of free apps (games). Already configured Google Sync and set up most of the options. Simply put, the phone so far is awesome. That's after 1 complete hour of experience with it :-)

Getting my hands on the phone and making it work was a different story:

FedEx was supposed to drop it off today at my home, but a signature was required, so I had to go pick it up. Unfortunately, that driver doesn't get there til after 7:30pm, and they close at 8pm. I got there at 7:20pm hoping he might have been early. No luck -- he didn't arrive til 7:50pm.

Drove straight home (traffic was crap on the beltway!)... called AT&T to activate before they closed at 9pm. Waited on hold 20 minutes (seriously), then worked with someone to activate for another 15 minutes. She was painfully slow. And, worse, she mumbled -- would not enunciate one damn word, even after I got so frustrated that I told her I couldn't understand what she was saying (I normally don't talk to strangers on the phone that way).

Well... the phone was working after the activation, but I found out soon after hanging up that the data plan wasn't. And that's sort of the point of the iPhone. I would have been less upset if the phone functionality was the feature not working :-)

I called back, but it was around 9pm, and I was given a "we're closed" message. I then hunted for an AT&T tech support number and found one. I waited on hold and worked with someone for another 25 minutes total. This second woman was very friendly, presumably capable, and professional. And even with a foreign accent, she spoke clearly, unlike the first Valley Girl. Turns out that the first woman had failed to properly update my data plan, yada yada yada. What a shock!

Anywho, after spending hours tonight, I'm tired... but will still be playing with this thing until I pass out in my bed :-)

A few minor updates:

• I bought an iPhone. Yes, I finally left Windows Mobile. I'm a big Microsoft fan, but the iPhone's OS just leaves the current Windows Mobile OS line in the dust (especially since so many WinMo phones are underpowered). I'm sure Windows Mobile 7 may be impressive, but it's a ways off. My iPhone should arrive shortly! (And, yes, I considered all alternatives, including Android and Pre.)


• My class seems to be moving forward at a decent pace. It seems to be a bit smoother in the last week or two; of course, Sunday marked the middle of the course, so in 6 weeks, I'll be done. I just registered for some preferred courses for next semester in an online system at the school -- I have to wait for a couple of weeks before I find out if I'm lucky enough to be able to teach again next semester. Unfortunately, the academic director making that decision has a large candidate pool of instructors from which to choose, most of whom wish to teach online... and he really doesn't know that much about my style (especially since he won't be looking at my current online classroom, nor have any student reviews been submitted). My only hope is that I've submitted two pieces of content to be shared with the whole department, and haven't seen anyone else do anything similar; if that gets my name remembered and allows me to teach again, great. I'll consider that my way of presenting a virtual, shiny, red apple on the director's virtual desk ;-)


• Work is nuts. Working my ass off. Just like most other folks there. Except I'm stupid enough to take some work home. And sometimes do it on days off. And sometimes answer email when I'm off. And take on tasks above my pay grade. Because I'm nuts. :-) Fortunately, I'm involved in some good projects right now, and I've been able (through long-term "nagging") to convince our group to follow some good project management methods, such as creating meaningful project plans, work breakdown structures, etc. Hopefully, it'll catch on and folks will see the benefit.


• I bought all the Hannibal novels (Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Hannibal Rising, Red Dragon) and plan to read them over a course of many, many, many nights. I don't spend a lot of time reading, but I had gotten the urge to read these. And, I bought the books off of Amazon, used, so they were very cheap -- I'd say that 90% of my Amazon purchases are from non-Amazon vendors (the "MarketPlace," I think it's called).

I went to see U2 last night at FedEx Field in DC.

Whoa! It was impressive. Their stage was huge, and the light show was equally impressive.

Check out the two pictures of the setup here: http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0909/u2_rocks_d_c_.html

When looking at the picture, keep in mind that FedEx Field is huge... able to seat 91,000 or so.

EDIT: The opening act, Muse, was good too. I had never heard of them before -- good stuff!

This semester has been a bit rocky.

First, when I was first hired (hired late), I couldn't get any information (at all!) from my academic director. He wouldn't answer a single question; it was absolutely ridiculous (and unprofessional). After finally getting through the headache of building up my course content, building a syllabus and assignments, creating a final exam, going through an entire textbook and going through labs in a matter of roughly two weeks, I thought I was done with the headaches.

Then, the textbook for the class was on backorder for many of the students (close to half!). This was poor planning by the publisher and the school. This wreaked havoc on my course schedule, and has really put a strain on some students and on my grading, since it ends up spreading my grading out unevenly and bunched up a lot of work for students (three weeks in, and some students finally got their textbook, which required them to catch up quickly).

Now, I'm stuck with a handful of students who simply aren't participating or turning in assignments. They won't respond to email. And they won't even reply to their classmates who are in their group for a group assignment.

Two students dropped the class. When I asked if they had any specific concerns, it came down to their busy personal schedules preventing them from participating in classes. That's fine -- at least it wasn't me (that I know of). Unfortunately, the more students who withdraw late actually reflects somewhat on me (from the college's standpoint).

Now, I have another few students who aren't involved at all. I'd prefer it if they just stayed in the course and *tried* to perform. I'm a reasonable guy, and I'm sure they could swing a passing grade. However, I'm also selfishly worried they'll drop. There could be a few people who drop the class, which would reflect badly on me.

I believe some students dislike the labs (something I don't have control over), and that may be reflected in evaluations. I don't anticipate that most students are going to be that concerned with evaluating my involvement with the course as much as discussing how much work they have to do or how little they liked the labs.

Furthermore, based on experience and after observing other classes (including an instructor teaching the exact same course), that I'm doing well, and that my assignments and discussion contribution are very good compared to other faculty. I know that I spend a great deal of time on this class. I'm nervous that the academic director, who, at best, is indifferent towards me (and, at worst, dislikes me), will see average evaluations (maybe I'm wrong and they'll be positive?) and some folks dropping out, and will decide I'm not needed for next semester. One of the disadvantages of online education is that I haven't been able to make an impression on the director, especially since he never likes to communicate via email or phone. (Perhaps he's not a good fit for an online university!)

Ugh. I just wish I could relax, and enjoy and focus on the course, rather than worrying about whether I'll be asked back or not. Given how much I've put into this course, and the fact that I know I'm doing well, it'd be huge disappointment not to get to teach again.

I took a trip last week to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Pictures are in the second and third sets here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickrohe/sets/

The falls were impressive, including at night, when they are lit up. I first stopped by Goat Island, a small island on the US side between the two sets of falls (American Falls and Horseshoe Falls). (And, no, the island wasn't infested with goats.) I then went into Canada (where I stayed), and spent my time walking around the falls area, gambling at a nearby casino, eating, and drinking. On the day I drove up to Toronto, I stopped by a small historical site, Fort George, just north of Niagara Falls -– it wasn’t especially impressive, but I only spent an hour or so there going through their museum and watching some of their reenactments.

On my drive to Toronto, I quickly discovered that, at least on the highways and city roads, Canadian drivers are just as crazy as US drivers. The only real problem I had was watching my speed and making sure I wasn’t forgetting that the limits were in km/h – there’s a big difference between 100 km/h and 100 mph!

In Toronto, I spent my first day walking around the downtown area. That day, there was a huge Christian parade going down the street as far as I could see -– they were cranking out such loud music that, when I was in a parking garage (getting stuff out of my car), the sound was actually painful. Then, later in the day, I was offered free bibles by at least 3 people on the street. Then, I got stuck walking behind a group of presumably Nation of Islam guys who were accosting everyone on the street. There were shouting at people (nice enough to warn people that they "would burn") and trying to start a few fights. There were some real religious nut jobs out that day. Not sure if that’s a Toronto thing, or just something random on that particular day. And one of the nuttiest religions (yes, that's a judgment that can be made), Scientology, had a building (recruitment/brainwashing center?) near my hotel.

That night, I was at a pub, and one of the drinks I ordered was a Sapphire (gin) and tonic; the waitress asked if I was "American." She said that only Americans ordered drinks by brand, and that Canadians would have just ordered a gin and tonic and expected a rail drink. Later on, I was randomly flipping through TV channels and found a TLC show about big lottery winners, and two of the people were from Maryland (and one was a student at Towson University!) – quite a coincidence.

The next two days, I walked around the Toronto Harbourfront, took a ferry to the Toronto Islands (in the harbor), walked around the city at night (including a walk around the University of Toronto), visited Casa Loma (a castle-like mansion built in the early 1900s) and visited the Royal Ontario Museum. I saw a large, fat raccoon one night waddling around a busy street; I tried to get a picture in time but couldn’t get a good shot.

The Toronto subway system was fairly useful in getting around downtown, but one particular aspect seemed out-of-date: Day passes had to be purchased in person, and the passes couldn’t be used electronically, so I had to present it to the toll officer every time I wanted to get through the toll area. The problem is that there was only one person who could let me through and he/she was always busy with a line of people getting through the toll who were buying a day pass, using a day pass, or paying with cash instead of tokens or commuter passes. I was surprised to see that particular inefficiency in a modern city; otherwise, it was fine, and the stops were convenient for me.

When I first entered Canada, their border patrol asked a few questions, but nothing ridiculous and they were professional. When I re-entered the US, the US border patrol officer had a bit of an attitude, and persisted in asking why I was traveling alone -– I understand why it may be more suspicious to travel alone, but the guy was fairly persistent with his questions. I certainly would not call it inappropriate or illegal; I would just suggest that these officers get a little training in tact. Plus, a more tactful or subtle approach to the questions might actually be a little more effective.

Overall, a decent trip.

His latest movie is about how capitalism is a failure. Seriously.

Read this transcript of an interview with Larry King: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/24/lkl.michael.moore/index.html

I don't even feel like spending time commenting on this. Of course any system relying on capitalism has its ups and downs, but to contend that capitalism is a failure? And he forgets that people don't suggest capitalism is *perfect*, but rather that it's the economic approach we favor over others. There is no perfect system. His opinion seems like a fairly simplistic view to me, especially for someone who pretends that he's researched the topic thoroughly and producing a "documentary."

I just find the man ridiculous -- in all of his fake documentaries. Besides being obnoxious, his comments often come off as whiny, simplistic and uneducated.

By the way, I love when someone who is wealthy bitches about the "wealthy 1%" :-) Larry calls him on it in the interview.

I was sitting in a bar tonight having a White Russian and remember some times back in college: Some friends I worked with would go out with me to Batemans almost every week and we'd have some drinks. Early on, I favored Long Island Iced Teas and White Russians. Yes... what a bad combination, but I survived it somehow.

I always looked forward to those outings, and I miss them a bit. I'm curious what happened to the group of people (all of us coworkers at some point) who used to gather there, but there are two people in particular who used to come with me without fail. I know one of them was engaged last time I spoke with him (about a year or two ago); the other moved out to the west coast with some dude and I haven't heard from her since (about 5+ years).

Maybe I'll write them at some point. Or maybe not. We'll see... :-)

Monopoly City Streets (http://www.monopolycitystreets.com) is an online game that lets you buy up real streets and build on them. It's been out about a week. [EDIT 9/18: I should explain that it doesn't let you *actually* buy the streets, just that they are real streets from a real map. ;-)]

Without going into details, I basically had built up a small empire (nowhere near comparable to 99% of the other, insanely obsessed players) based on the streets in my own neighborhood -- I had bought up the roads and had a nice little empire for only a small bit of effort/time.

Unfortunately, those who created the game failed to anticipate the load on their servers, nor did the properly test their code (which was obvious while playing). I went to continue working on my "empire" tonight when I found a message on their home page alerting me and everyone else to the fact that they're "starting over" -- not only are they fixing bugs and increasing capacity, but wiping all previous data. To be fair, the bugs they're fixing are important, and they are adding some crucial new features to make the game more "balanced"... but it seems a bit "late" to do so, at least for those of us having already invested any time at all.

Ugh. I'm not sure I feel like starting over now. What a waste of time. I understand that it was a game (and a temporary one at that) to begin with, and I certainly didn't give it much of my time (I don't have much these days), but it's still frustrating to have all my work/progress wiped because of the game provider's ineptitude. I might log in once in a couple of days and see if my roads are again available, at which time I'll buy them up if possible.

If you're not familiar with RottenTomatoes.com, it's a great movie review site. I use it whenever I'm considering watching a new movie at the theater.

Its movie ratings are based off of a huge number of movie critics (and possibly user reviews?). Generally, the ratings seem pretty "accurate" (obviously, a matter of opinion).

Not surprisingly (at least to me), Star Trek was ranked #2 on the list of top movies for this summer, only beaten by the movie Up.

If you haven't seen it yet, it's out in select IMAX theaters again for the next 2 weeks; it'll then be available in mid-November. Add it to your NetFlix queue now! ;-)

I have two friends, both of whom didn’t complete their Bachelor’s degrees, both of whom are intelligent and experienced people, who have repeatedly remarked that college degrees and certifications mean nothing. (In particular, we were discussing job readiness and hiring.)

On the other hand, while I still value meaningful experience over all else, I feel that a degree (especially multiple degrees) shows a willingness to learn, patience, initiative, that the individual has received some exposure to academic topics, and that the individual may have been required to build his/her writing skills. As for certifications, I understand people’s comments that unqualified people can still pass a certification test, but I strongly feel that if you’re studying (and passing) any certification, that you are gaining some knowledge. I also think that a willingness to go through a certification process shows some of the personal qualities I mentioned above.

While I believe the opinion of these other two friends is tainted by the fact that they have neither degrees nor certifications, I wonder if my opinion is equally tainted: I have a Master’s, I now teach a college course, and I have multiple technical (and a non-technical) certifications.

I’m not very convinced that my opinion is tainted: I have remarked about the lax standards we often see in college today, and I have always felt that experience is a determining factor in one’s ability to perform a job. I merely value degrees and certifications as well, and consider them a contributing factor in determining one’s ability to potentially perform a job. I would also weigh that individual’s performance in their degree program (i.e., GPA).

While I’ve tried to explain this, I can’t seem to get these other individuals to admit that degrees and certifications mean something. I at least hope that most decision-makers do.

A friend's blog post recently mentioned a game watch he had when he was a kid. So, I did a quick search and found the two watches I had that I absolutely loved:

Frogger: http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Nelsonic/Frogger.htm

Tetris: http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Nelsonic/Tetris.htm

The Frogger one was so heavily used, that the buttons stopped working (worn out), and I performed some funky workaround by jamming some wire behind the buttons (which fixed it!). Once a hacker, always a hacker ;-)

I can still remember the joy I felt at hearing the "music and sound effects" produced by those tinny (I don't mean "tiny," I mean "tinny") little buzzers in the watches :-)

What's scary is that I just searched eBay for "Frogger Nelsonic" and saw two entries, one for $100 and one for $250 (mint condition)! Yikes! [http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=nelsonic+frogger&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=nelsonic&_osacat=0]

Got my new Blu-Ray player last night, but of course don't have any Blu-Ray movies yet :-)

DVDs look great on it. However, it seems that the upconverting to 1080p isn't quite as good if there's lots of film grain on the DVD. But, it doesn't look bad.

The player was pretty much ready to go out of the box. Once I plugged it into the network, it spent 10 minutes downloading and install a firmware update.

I also got NetFlix streaming working right away. The movie obviously doesn't come through in high-def, but it still looks as good as I'd expect. Plus, the interface is as snappy as the PC player software.

I put in an order for a few blu-ray movies which I should start getting by next week!

Over a month ago, I purchased a limited-release CD from a small web site using PayPal.

Well, after a month of delays, and having only 1 email response from the guy, I sent 3 different messages in the last week informing him that I wanted a refund and that I'd be buying from somewhere else (I found a copy from another provider).

I ordered the other item last night, and sent him a final message informing him that I'd gone through the PayPal dispute process and was going to get my money back that way. Well, magically, he writes me and says that "oops, he *just* sent the item." Riiiiight.

I told him that I wanted the refund, and that he could send me a self-addressed package in which I'd send him back the CD. Well, he keeps sending back obtuse, single-sentence replies along the lines of "Just send it back, and I'll give a refund."

In other words, I'm stuck going through PayPal now. Hopefully they see my point of view -- in particular, I shouldn't have to pay any shipping costs out-of-pocket for this crap.

And for my class, I have a bit of a headache -- the textbook publisher now lists our class textbook as on backorder. Unfortunately, at least 6 of my 23 students waited until the last week to buy the book, and now they won't have it for the first 2-3 weeks of class. That's a big problem, as I now have to have separate due dates for these students, it screws up the group projects, and it screws up the class participation online. The first teaching experience has been difficult (with the difficult academic director, not receiving my own textbook until a week before I had to the lay the course out, not getting any content from the school, having to complete a certification course which doesn't end for another week, and now this). Phew. I can't wait til it's a few weeks in and things are going a little more smoothly.

So a few weeks back, I finally upgraded from a "huge" projection TV to merely a "big" LCD in my basement :-)

I've been watching Blu-Ray player prices, and especially looking for ones that could stream NetFlix movies.

I found a great deal for a great player. $200 for the Samsung BD-P1600, for which CNET provides a very positive review: http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-players-recorders/samsung-bd-p1600/4505-9991_7-33561693.html

I don't think I would have seen this drop significantly in price in the next 6 months, and it's been hard to find good players with NetFlix capability that aren't horribly expensive, so I think this was a good choice.

The shipping is fast, so I may have it by mid-week. I don't have any Blu-Ray discs yet though :-) I will try my NetFlix right away, and consider buying a couple of Blu-Ray movies soon. Of course, come mid-November, I know which movie I'm buying: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Three-Disc-Digital-Blu-ray/dp/B001AVCFK6/ref=sr_tr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1250545740&sr=1-1 (In fact, I may end up buying some of the original movies on Blu-Ray, since they're getting released now in that format.)

My full-time job, my part-time teaching job, and my online teaching certification class are basically using 95%+ of my "free" time. The last week or two (and no doubt, the next two or three weeks) have involved me coming home from work, eating, then doing more work until midnight or so (sometimes really late).

I still feel good though, since I feel confident that the two jobs and the certification are moving forward.

My class size continues to increase -- I started with 15 students and now have 22. I have a feeling that may go up by 1 or 2 more this week (classes officially start next Monday).

Besides the preparation I have to do now (go through the entire textbook, go through every lab, come up with weekly assignments, come up with weekly discussion questions, write some weekly content that goes outside the scope of the textbook, detail the paper assignment, detail a group project assignment, and write the two versions of the final exam), I also will have to do the following each week: grade participation, grade an assignment, facilitate the online discussions, and deal with standard administrative stuff. That's over 40 things to grade per week plus the other work.

Even considering that, I'm not worried :-) I'm fairly organized, so I think I can streamline the process.

I was about to write, "In other news...," but I realized I had no other significant news since my life has been consumed with work as of late.

For those who like Seinfeld, here's a great picture which includes various "items" from all the various Seinfeld episodes (http://www.cslacker.com/images/funny/amazing/seinfeld_summed_up/) as well as a key to the picture (http://youfail.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chart-copy-copy.jpg). Two friends at work looked it over with me and we were able to identify the large majority of them.

No, despite the subject line, this is not another politically charged post ;-)

I've been having some difficulty in getting answers out of my academic director regarding my class content. I'm not sure why, either. It's been a very odd experience not getting answers to such basic questions as "Am I required to cover all content in the textbook?" or "Am I required to use any pre-existing content?"

Keep in mind, I've had no hints as to what the syllabus, assignments, textbook selections, labs, etc. have looked like in previous iterations of the class.

He finally handed me off to ask these questions of the course chair, someone who's taught the class before. I asked him simple questions, and finally got back the answers I needed.

The answer: I have to cover everything in the textbook, but I have complete freedom (within reason, of course) to design:

• the schedule by which textbook content is covered and assignments are due


• the course grading rubric (percentage for final, for paper, for assignments)


• weekly questions for online discussion


• descriptions and grading rubrics for a research paper, and multiple assignments


• choosing labs and review questions from the lab guide

The bad news: I have one week now to get it done, and I won't receive the textbook (which is central to the course) until Monday evening (hopefully!). The good news: The pay is better than expected!

I feel great right now -- I finally have the answers I need, the textbook will supply the core content I need, and I have the freedom to create the things I mentioned above. Exciting! Now time for me to get to work! :-)