When I picked up my cap and gown, and graduation announcements at school today, it finally began to sink in that I’ll be graduating in eight days. I mean, yes, I saw the days of the term ticking down on the calendar, and yes, I knew when graduation was, but holding the wrapped and folded gown in my hands was a tangible sign that the graduation is almost here, it’s not just a day on the calendar. I’m still stressed out about how much I still have to do with my COBOL program, but I’ve gotten all of my other homework done; all that I have left are chapter tests in SQL and systems analysis, and a final in tech writing. By approximately 7 pm Thursday, December 15, I will have received my diploma for an Associates’ Degree in Specialized Business, with a concentration in computer systems. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, I’m still too involved with classes to look at life after graduation, but that will come, I’m sure.
Looking back, the past two years began with a new year’s resolution to go back to school, with my first class in February of 2004. I wanted the practical education from an associates’ degree that I could get in two years’ time, without all the enriching classes and extra time of a four year degree. I would like a bachelor’s degree or higher in computers, but I wanted to take a step that would get me into the programming world in as short a time as possible, to ensure that was what I really wanted to do. I’ve learned a lot about programming, what I enjoy doing, and what I do not, and I look forward to working and honing my skills. My ultimate goal is still a job in the gaming industry. I’m not there yet, but I am much closer than I was.
12.08.2005
10.18.2005
We Are... Penn State!
I got to go to the Penn State game against Minnesota on Oct. 1. Now that it’s been over two weeks since the event, I thought I’d better get to writing about it, since I had such a great time. Things didn’t get started too smoothly, but everything worked out in the end.
Thursday morning, my mom woke up with trouble breathing, and the symptoms of high blood pressure. She went to the emergency room right away, and after several tests and hours of waiting, and a cocktail of blood pressure medications, she was stable that evening and improving all day Friday. The rapid improvement of mom’s condition, while very much appreciated, made arrangements for going on a four hour drive to a football game challenging. The good news was that the doctors wanted mom to continue her adjusted dialysis regimen at the hospital for another day, and would be able to come home on Sunday.
After confirmation of this plan by 9 am Saturday, dad and I were on the road by 10 am. We stopped at Country Fair for coffee and breakfast sandwiches, then took the non-Interstate, old school highway route to State College. I mentioned the fact the when I think of highways, I think of the Interstate system, while my parents, who grew up in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, thought of the state routes as highways. I must say that the older system is much more enjoyable to drive through, scenery-wise, and the shorter mileage made up for the faster speed of the Interstate. Around 12:30, we got to the traditional half-way stop, the MacDonald’s and truck stop just off I-80.
We took I-80 the rest of the way to State College, and followed the electro-signage onto some new-to-us interstate, and cruised down nearly-empty roads to the parking areas near the stadium, arriving shortly after 2 p.m.
We sold the extra ticket we had to a scalper, wandered through the Centre County Visitor Center, dad bought a PSU hat with the ticket money, and we made our way into Beaver Stadium (*snicker*). Just inside the stadium, we stopped to inspect the curious nature of the stadium’s architecture. Back in the 70’s(-ish), the existing bleachers were jacked 10-15 feet into the air, and in place of the running track, new seats were built to meet the newly raised bleachers. Over the years, additional decks and suites were added, as well as two large end zone scoreboards.
We made our way up to our seats, which were in the corner of one of the end zones, not too far above the Minnesota cheering section, but far enough to be surrounded by Penn State fans; it made for some entertaining moments, though. We arrived early enough to watch much of the pre-game warm-ups, the two head coaches meeting and shaking hands, and the various and sundry exercises and drills both teams performed. I especially enjoyed the one where a line of players stretched across the goal line, who proceeded to maneuver in a cross between goose-stepping soldiers and the Rockettes. When the first line got five yards away, a second line began moving in the same fashion, followed by a third and fourth.
The game itself is a blur. There was much standing, and sitting, and yelling. It was truly inspiring to hear a stadium with over 100,000 people in it chanting, “WE ARE!… PENN STATE!” We probably did that a dozen times. It was an amazing game, with good offense, great defense, and opportune scoring. PSU won, 44-14, moving them to 18th in the polls (they’re 8th now, WooHoo!). After the third quarter, I was getting sore from being crammed into the bleachers, as well as repeatedly swapping between sitting and standing, so dad and I walked to the other end of the stadium, and stood at the base of the upper deck of the student section until there were about five minutes left in the game when we returned to our regular seats.
After the game, the Blue Band came back onto the field, having also performed during halftime, and performed again, a tradition at PSU and presumably at other universities as well. They were quite entertaining, and a good way to complete an official PSU football game. All that remained was to walk back to the parking field, err… lot, and find the van. The parking wasn’t as far away as I had feared, and was easy to get to after the game. What was difficult was finding a silver minivan in a dark field, among hundreds of cars SUV’s and silver minivans. After 15 minutes of patrolling the lanes of vehicles, we were able to find our car and make our way to the road. Traffic on the way out went as smoothly as I could have hoped, since the police here have been managing football crowds every fall for decades now, and had it down to a science. We drove into State College proper, looking for a place to eat that wasn’t packed to the gills, and found a little sports bar with outdoor seating right on College Ave.
Dad and I had cheese steaks and split an order of onion rings, and watched the cars and people go by on the street and listened to a guy argue with his girlfriend over a cell phone and drinks. I kept thinking about missed opportunities and how my life could have been different had I gone to college right out of high school instead of after a few years of diving a depressed and grief-stricken life. To get back on track here, I am glad to be where I am now, and look forward to my opportunities, but do feel that I missed out on a great collegiate experience.
After dinner we sought to make our way toward our hotel, some 30 minutes away. Due to the darkness of night, and the fact that we’d been on the road since this morning, then experienced the exhilarating event that is Penn State Football, road signs were misinterpreted, and we ended up a winding two lane road going down a mountain. An intersection was reached, which led to the proper road, and we were safely ensconced in our hotel room without further incident. Some teevee was watched, then we slept, for the road was beckoning us on the morrow.
Sunday morning we awoke to a dense fog, which made the drive back to State College and adventure. We intended to partake of the institution that is the Waffle Shop, among other stops. The location next to Scott’s motel was as packed as we remembered, but the dining area was slightly larger. I had a blueberry waffle and coffee; dad had a sausage and cheese omelet and coffee, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Once could taste the absolute freshness. After the Waffle Shop, we located a grocery store where mass quantities of the delicacy called Tastykake were procured. Our odd shopping selection was marked upon by the check-out girl, and was answered by my favorite traveler’s phrase, “We’re from out of town.” Our next stop was the Creamery, via a short driving tour of the campus, where three half gallons of ice cream were purchased, with complimentary dry ice to preserve our catch through the journey. Cones were reluctantly bypassed, due to the recent taking of breakfast. Our last stop in Happy Valley was Penn State Sub Shop #1 for three traditional classic Italian hoagies to eat for lunch as we drove and as needed later.
The Interstate was chosen as our route home, and the drive was begun before noon. Around two, we reached Cook Forest, where we ate our subs in the company of the park office cat. I slept for a time during the drive, and we got back to town at a quarter to four.
Thursday morning, my mom woke up with trouble breathing, and the symptoms of high blood pressure. She went to the emergency room right away, and after several tests and hours of waiting, and a cocktail of blood pressure medications, she was stable that evening and improving all day Friday. The rapid improvement of mom’s condition, while very much appreciated, made arrangements for going on a four hour drive to a football game challenging. The good news was that the doctors wanted mom to continue her adjusted dialysis regimen at the hospital for another day, and would be able to come home on Sunday.
After confirmation of this plan by 9 am Saturday, dad and I were on the road by 10 am. We stopped at Country Fair for coffee and breakfast sandwiches, then took the non-Interstate, old school highway route to State College. I mentioned the fact the when I think of highways, I think of the Interstate system, while my parents, who grew up in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, thought of the state routes as highways. I must say that the older system is much more enjoyable to drive through, scenery-wise, and the shorter mileage made up for the faster speed of the Interstate. Around 12:30, we got to the traditional half-way stop, the MacDonald’s and truck stop just off I-80.
We took I-80 the rest of the way to State College, and followed the electro-signage onto some new-to-us interstate, and cruised down nearly-empty roads to the parking areas near the stadium, arriving shortly after 2 p.m.
We sold the extra ticket we had to a scalper, wandered through the Centre County Visitor Center, dad bought a PSU hat with the ticket money, and we made our way into Beaver Stadium (*snicker*). Just inside the stadium, we stopped to inspect the curious nature of the stadium’s architecture. Back in the 70’s(-ish), the existing bleachers were jacked 10-15 feet into the air, and in place of the running track, new seats were built to meet the newly raised bleachers. Over the years, additional decks and suites were added, as well as two large end zone scoreboards.
We made our way up to our seats, which were in the corner of one of the end zones, not too far above the Minnesota cheering section, but far enough to be surrounded by Penn State fans; it made for some entertaining moments, though. We arrived early enough to watch much of the pre-game warm-ups, the two head coaches meeting and shaking hands, and the various and sundry exercises and drills both teams performed. I especially enjoyed the one where a line of players stretched across the goal line, who proceeded to maneuver in a cross between goose-stepping soldiers and the Rockettes. When the first line got five yards away, a second line began moving in the same fashion, followed by a third and fourth.
The game itself is a blur. There was much standing, and sitting, and yelling. It was truly inspiring to hear a stadium with over 100,000 people in it chanting, “WE ARE!… PENN STATE!” We probably did that a dozen times. It was an amazing game, with good offense, great defense, and opportune scoring. PSU won, 44-14, moving them to 18th in the polls (they’re 8th now, WooHoo!). After the third quarter, I was getting sore from being crammed into the bleachers, as well as repeatedly swapping between sitting and standing, so dad and I walked to the other end of the stadium, and stood at the base of the upper deck of the student section until there were about five minutes left in the game when we returned to our regular seats.
After the game, the Blue Band came back onto the field, having also performed during halftime, and performed again, a tradition at PSU and presumably at other universities as well. They were quite entertaining, and a good way to complete an official PSU football game. All that remained was to walk back to the parking field, err… lot, and find the van. The parking wasn’t as far away as I had feared, and was easy to get to after the game. What was difficult was finding a silver minivan in a dark field, among hundreds of cars SUV’s and silver minivans. After 15 minutes of patrolling the lanes of vehicles, we were able to find our car and make our way to the road. Traffic on the way out went as smoothly as I could have hoped, since the police here have been managing football crowds every fall for decades now, and had it down to a science. We drove into State College proper, looking for a place to eat that wasn’t packed to the gills, and found a little sports bar with outdoor seating right on College Ave.
Dad and I had cheese steaks and split an order of onion rings, and watched the cars and people go by on the street and listened to a guy argue with his girlfriend over a cell phone and drinks. I kept thinking about missed opportunities and how my life could have been different had I gone to college right out of high school instead of after a few years of diving a depressed and grief-stricken life. To get back on track here, I am glad to be where I am now, and look forward to my opportunities, but do feel that I missed out on a great collegiate experience.
After dinner we sought to make our way toward our hotel, some 30 minutes away. Due to the darkness of night, and the fact that we’d been on the road since this morning, then experienced the exhilarating event that is Penn State Football, road signs were misinterpreted, and we ended up a winding two lane road going down a mountain. An intersection was reached, which led to the proper road, and we were safely ensconced in our hotel room without further incident. Some teevee was watched, then we slept, for the road was beckoning us on the morrow.
Sunday morning we awoke to a dense fog, which made the drive back to State College and adventure. We intended to partake of the institution that is the Waffle Shop, among other stops. The location next to Scott’s motel was as packed as we remembered, but the dining area was slightly larger. I had a blueberry waffle and coffee; dad had a sausage and cheese omelet and coffee, and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Once could taste the absolute freshness. After the Waffle Shop, we located a grocery store where mass quantities of the delicacy called Tastykake were procured. Our odd shopping selection was marked upon by the check-out girl, and was answered by my favorite traveler’s phrase, “We’re from out of town.” Our next stop was the Creamery, via a short driving tour of the campus, where three half gallons of ice cream were purchased, with complimentary dry ice to preserve our catch through the journey. Cones were reluctantly bypassed, due to the recent taking of breakfast. Our last stop in Happy Valley was Penn State Sub Shop #1 for three traditional classic Italian hoagies to eat for lunch as we drove and as needed later.
The Interstate was chosen as our route home, and the drive was begun before noon. Around two, we reached Cook Forest, where we ate our subs in the company of the park office cat. I slept for a time during the drive, and we got back to town at a quarter to four.
9.26.2005
end of days, monitoring things, game on!
There’s lots to talk about, relatively speaking. I’ve started my final semester at EBC, and begun working as a computer lab monitor there in the evenings. The Otters’ season began last weekend on the road. This weekend’s the home opener; that Saturday, I’ll also be attending my first ever Penn State Nittany Lions football game in Happy Valley. You can’t imagine how excited I am about that. I’m also looking forward to watching the Pittsburgh Penguins (The NHL’s Back!!!) on tv in just a few more weeks, and watching Sidney Crosby make his way among the pros.
The end is in sight, for my programming degree. December 14th is my last day, with graduation closely following. I’m going out with a bang, language-wise, Advanced COBOL, and SQL, with Advanced Systems Analysis and Tech. Writing rounding things off. It’s not a bas schedule, but my COBOL class is and independent study course, which makes finding computer time a hassle, as only one room of computers has a compiler on it, and I don’t want to have to buy a suite of software for home, which I should at least give a little thought to, I suppose. I’m enjoying SQL, since it’s quite intuitive to code, and making charts and graphs for tech writing is fun. I’ve definitely seen my courses come together in the past year, using programs and skills from earlier courses to complete projects for later ones. It also seems that I could get a job with Erie Insurance as a COBOL programmer pretty easily. I should get a resume out to them soon, as a matter of fact.
Working as a lab monitor is going well so far. Fourteen hours a week at minimum wage. So, I’m not in it for the money, more to get experience solving computer problems, and to say that I held down a job while at school for at least one semester. As for the work itself, I’m pretty much left to my own devices, and get paid to do homework. We’ll see how that goes as time goes on, and more people are in the labs asking questions, and I’ve got bigger projects to do myself.
The Otters Season opened as well as could be expected, with a win on Friday, and a loss on Sunday. They’ve got a couple overage players too many, so the next few weeks or months will be exciting to see how the rosters shake out, and how we do with trades.
The end is in sight, for my programming degree. December 14th is my last day, with graduation closely following. I’m going out with a bang, language-wise, Advanced COBOL, and SQL, with Advanced Systems Analysis and Tech. Writing rounding things off. It’s not a bas schedule, but my COBOL class is and independent study course, which makes finding computer time a hassle, as only one room of computers has a compiler on it, and I don’t want to have to buy a suite of software for home, which I should at least give a little thought to, I suppose. I’m enjoying SQL, since it’s quite intuitive to code, and making charts and graphs for tech writing is fun. I’ve definitely seen my courses come together in the past year, using programs and skills from earlier courses to complete projects for later ones. It also seems that I could get a job with Erie Insurance as a COBOL programmer pretty easily. I should get a resume out to them soon, as a matter of fact.
Working as a lab monitor is going well so far. Fourteen hours a week at minimum wage. So, I’m not in it for the money, more to get experience solving computer problems, and to say that I held down a job while at school for at least one semester. As for the work itself, I’m pretty much left to my own devices, and get paid to do homework. We’ll see how that goes as time goes on, and more people are in the labs asking questions, and I’ve got bigger projects to do myself.
The Otters Season opened as well as could be expected, with a win on Friday, and a loss on Sunday. They’ve got a couple overage players too many, so the next few weeks or months will be exciting to see how the rosters shake out, and how we do with trades.
9.07.2005
sunset walk
Went for a walk with the dog as the sun was setting this evening. As I was standing at the bluff, admiring the colorful glow that remained after the orb of the sun crossed the horizon, the firefighters from the station a few blocks away drove up in their pumper. Four men got out to view the fiery sky. Shortly thereafter, a family of mom, dad, infant son and grandmother reached us. I walked Russell over and he got his head patted, and sniffed the knees of everyone. As I walked away from the bluff, another pair of women walked by, one of which asked to pet Russell. Now I just have to take Russell for a walk near a college campus or something, and I'll make all sorts of new friends. :) I've got to keep up on my walking now, I'd done quite a bit while my brother was home for the summer, and we walked together; the air and exercise perk me up after school days.
3.01.2005
Momspital
At
Eventually, the MRI was taken Tuesday afternoon. I was called at home around
As of
2.17.2005
New Hitchhiker's Guide movie trailer out today!
I can't wait for the movie to come out. Must go to theater and stand in line... now...
2.16.2005
NHL Announces Cancellation of 2004-05 Season
Yeah. It's official. I'll talk about it after a self-imposed cooling off period has elapsed.
2.13.2005
Learning a valuable coding lesson
The expression “Couldn’t see the forest for the trees” may be clichéd, but it’s certainly accurate, and can be used in the reverse. Especially when you’re a beginning VB programmer and you’ve been asked to find and fix an error in a code sample. Two weeks ago, I was given a program that had a number of errors involving the logic used to navigate an array to display the array’s records. One of the bugs was the code to navigate the array, which improperly used the index numbers as well as used values outside the array. The program created a function to get the items needed to display, and used sub procedures to call that function when I issued a command to move to the next, previous, first or last records.
For the past two weeks, when I had class time, and time at home to work at this program, I kept trying to alter the code of the procedure to step forward and backward through the array. My brother, who is also studying VB and other programming languages, came home for this weekend, and I had him look through the code with me, to see what I had to do. We looked at the code for the function, and at the sub procedures, translating into English the code statements. It turns out that the line of code that needed changed was not in the function that displayed the array record, but in the sub procedure, that used the value determined by the function. The call statement to display the Next record displayed the record with an index number of the current record, and did not increment that value to get to the next value. The simple addition of a “+ 1” or a “- 1” to two lines of code fixed the bug, when I thought I had to rewrite the DisplayRecord function.
2.04.2005
EA corrupting game industry
EA corrupting game industry - Washington Square News
Reading news like this concerns me about working in the game industry, but it also is a call to arms, to do my best as a programmer, and try to fight the good fight against the big quasi-monopolies like Electronic Arts. Companies like Cyan, which created the Myst series of games, began as a small entity, and changed the way people thought about computers and gaming. As much as I would like to work with a big, famous software company, I would relish the opportunity to work for a small, dedicated group of people who have a dream, and a desire to accomplish that dream.
Reading news like this concerns me about working in the game industry, but it also is a call to arms, to do my best as a programmer, and try to fight the good fight against the big quasi-monopolies like Electronic Arts. Companies like Cyan, which created the Myst series of games, began as a small entity, and changed the way people thought about computers and gaming. As much as I would like to work with a big, famous software company, I would relish the opportunity to work for a small, dedicated group of people who have a dream, and a desire to accomplish that dream.
1.28.2005
checking in on myself
The past week and a half to two weeks have been exciting on the weather front, with temperatures dropping into the single digits, heavy snow and winds dumping a good bit of snow, and when it wasn’t snowing, one day I woke up to freezing rain and a serious layer of ice to scrape off the car. Having the sun out and temps in the twenties for a change helped clear the roads quite a bit, so I’m ok with the weather for now.
1.01.2005
www.yetisports.org
Lately I've been spending insane amounts of time smacking penguins upside the head, or tossing other polar creatures up glacial canyons. What strange games can be found at www.yetisports.org!
12.27.2004
‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky
I’m feeling quite a bit sleep-deprived, but energized, listening to old Cake albums on Rhapsody, on this day-after-Christmas; a little chicken-shit on the side too. I don’t understand why I’m so afraid of chatting with girls online, that’s gotta be one of the lowest-pressure situations out there. (I’m feeling rather hyphen-y tonight too, it seems)
12.26.2004
12.13.2004
Creating a Paper Trail in the Snow
So…Yes. The term is ending Wednesday, and I’m writing my final government paper tonight that’s due tomorrow morning. This will be (I’m fairly certain) the first multi-page paper I’ll actually complete for a college class. So, that’s good. I’m just afraid that I’m quoting a bit too directly and will get an F for the course for plagiarizing. I’m not really able to care that much, because it’s only a business school, and I’m hoping standards may be a bit lower than a state University. I’m a pretty good writer, but I need to balance having something to turn in
against doing my best not to plagiarize. I’m fairly certain that I have enough extra credit points in this class to offset the two zeros on the papers. Anyway, it’s an elective class, so that’s enough of that one.
In my programming class, I’ve got no clue what the final’s going to be like. My teacher set no due dates for programming assignments, and didn’t follow a schedule for the class at all. It’s going to be either creating a new program, modifying a working program, or fixing a broken program. We didn’t do any fixing broken programs per se before, so I don’t know.
We ended up only spending about two weeks on the last chapter, when the previous ones got at least three weeks. I could probably get the gist of whatever programming we have to do, but am I sure that what I do will be mistake free? Absolutely not. This is my first programming language course, and I could have used a bit more structure in my teaching environment to feel comfortable.
Over the weekend, I complained to my brother that we hadn’t seen appreciable amounts of snow yet this year, so what happens last night? Lake effect snow moves in, dumping near a foot
of snow by my house, well over that much not far away. Digging my car out after class and then
shoveling the driveway was not quite the welcome to winter I would have liked. So, my fingers are cramping, and I need to add a few more paragraphs to my paper, so, time to go.
against doing my best not to plagiarize. I’m fairly certain that I have enough extra credit points in this class to offset the two zeros on the papers. Anyway, it’s an elective class, so that’s enough of that one.
In my programming class, I’ve got no clue what the final’s going to be like. My teacher set no due dates for programming assignments, and didn’t follow a schedule for the class at all. It’s going to be either creating a new program, modifying a working program, or fixing a broken program. We didn’t do any fixing broken programs per se before, so I don’t know.
We ended up only spending about two weeks on the last chapter, when the previous ones got at least three weeks. I could probably get the gist of whatever programming we have to do, but am I sure that what I do will be mistake free? Absolutely not. This is my first programming language course, and I could have used a bit more structure in my teaching environment to feel comfortable.
Over the weekend, I complained to my brother that we hadn’t seen appreciable amounts of snow yet this year, so what happens last night? Lake effect snow moves in, dumping near a foot
of snow by my house, well over that much not far away. Digging my car out after class and then
shoveling the driveway was not quite the welcome to winter I would have liked. So, my fingers are cramping, and I need to add a few more paragraphs to my paper, so, time to go.
10.25.2004
Short Shifts
Friday evening…went to Andrew’s and installed Visual Studio there…Watched Foster’s…had
institutional-style chicken strips and fries…went to improv, had a decent time, and almost
participated this time…ran into someone I knew while I was a student there…watched Anchorman, was funny if you enjoy Will Farrell…came back home.
Saturday…got up at 12…went to brunch with dad and Andrew…listened to PSU football on radio as drove Andrew back to dorm…mildly surprised to lose 6-4…did some homework…mowed lawn and raked leaves…smells of fall on the air…went to hockey game…Otters played well enough to win 4-3, several fights, some penalties not called that should have been, some called that should not have been…Saw the Hanson brothers…of Slapshot fame, not the teenybopper singers…announced their appearance as mock trade of three otters players to chorus of boos…Hanson’s proceeded to mock-fight with referee and backup goalie of visiting team…glorification of violent hockey, meeting with my disproval…came out again after 1st period, pulled by Zamboni, did laps to applause, then shot t-shirts into crowd…not that big a deal…line for autographs extended full length of one wing of the arena…played Syberia 2 and watched end of world series game 1 and Sox win.
Sunday…more Syberia 2…watched some NASCAR and football and baseball…lots of homework to do tomorrow, but will manage…END TRANSMISSION…
institutional-style chicken strips and fries…went to improv, had a decent time, and almost
participated this time…ran into someone I knew while I was a student there…watched Anchorman, was funny if you enjoy Will Farrell…came back home.
Saturday…got up at 12…went to brunch with dad and Andrew…listened to PSU football on radio as drove Andrew back to dorm…mildly surprised to lose 6-4…did some homework…mowed lawn and raked leaves…smells of fall on the air…went to hockey game…Otters played well enough to win 4-3, several fights, some penalties not called that should have been, some called that should not have been…Saw the Hanson brothers…of Slapshot fame, not the teenybopper singers…announced their appearance as mock trade of three otters players to chorus of boos…Hanson’s proceeded to mock-fight with referee and backup goalie of visiting team…glorification of violent hockey, meeting with my disproval…came out again after 1st period, pulled by Zamboni, did laps to applause, then shot t-shirts into crowd…not that big a deal…line for autographs extended full length of one wing of the arena…played Syberia 2 and watched end of world series game 1 and Sox win.
Sunday…more Syberia 2…watched some NASCAR and football and baseball…lots of homework to do tomorrow, but will manage…END TRANSMISSION…
9.28.2004
Sunset on the Bluff
This is a 15 minute free-writing exercise I had to do last week for my composition class. The prompt I chose to write about was to describe the special place you go for rest and relaxation. I thought it turned out pretty well, and I haven’t posted anything here in a long time, so here it is.
Just two blocks from my house is a steep bluff that overlooks a bay on Lake Erie made by the Presque Isle peninsula. A street goes along its length, but back from the bluff far enough to provide a small, pleasant grassy area to stroll along, gazing at dandelions, or chase lightning bugs, or quietly watch the sunset. The face of the bluff is covered with trees, their tall, stately trunks reaching straight up to the sky for every last ray of sunshine. As you look across the water of the bay, the peninsula stretches its long arm across the horizon, a demarcation line between water and sky.
The most relaxing time to come to the bluff is fifteen or twenty minutes before sunset, so you can watch as it slowly sinks down from its perch in the sky. The sun by this time is a glowing, golden orb, and the sky around it is splashed with colors. Deep red, majestic purple, pink and orange are spilling from the sun into the sky. It is a performance more emotionally powerful than any fireworks or laser show a person could dream of. Seeing this play of light is most restful and relaxing.
© 2004 phaedrus220 (a pseudonym)
Just two blocks from my house is a steep bluff that overlooks a bay on Lake Erie made by the Presque Isle peninsula. A street goes along its length, but back from the bluff far enough to provide a small, pleasant grassy area to stroll along, gazing at dandelions, or chase lightning bugs, or quietly watch the sunset. The face of the bluff is covered with trees, their tall, stately trunks reaching straight up to the sky for every last ray of sunshine. As you look across the water of the bay, the peninsula stretches its long arm across the horizon, a demarcation line between water and sky.
The most relaxing time to come to the bluff is fifteen or twenty minutes before sunset, so you can watch as it slowly sinks down from its perch in the sky. The sun by this time is a glowing, golden orb, and the sky around it is splashed with colors. Deep red, majestic purple, pink and orange are spilling from the sun into the sky. It is a performance more emotionally powerful than any fireworks or laser show a person could dream of. Seeing this play of light is most restful and relaxing.
© 2004 phaedrus220 (a pseudonym)
5.19.2004
There and back again.
Today marks the beginning of week three of term two at EBC for me. Spring break has come and gone; now I’m in full swing, taking five classes this term. Mondays and Fridays, I’m taking classes on operating systems and computer concepts, as well as Intro to Business. Tuesdays and Thursdays, it’s Accounting and Keyboarding/math and English skill development. My toughest class is accounting, since that’s brand new to me; all the rest are fairly straightforward, putting a decent amount of work into completing the assignments for as many points as possible and gleaning what little new information is available. My intro to business prof came out and said the first day of classes that students had to work hard to fail his class. It’s amazing how little I’m doing in there compared to my other classes. That’s not to say that my computer classes are hard. I’m just going through the motions at present, but the teacher’s actually teaching for 90 minutes in my computer classes.
I’ve been stressed about money lately though. I’m still not quite sure how much of this term’s bill I’ll be paying now or with loans and grants later. Supposedly, the money I’ll be getting for fall term will also roll back to pay off my summer term, but the forms I filled out were for a school year ending this August. Oh well. I’m not even really the one footing the bill for what I owe right now; I’m borrowing money from my dad for school which is stretching the family’s already tight funds pretty thin.
The medical insurance industry can go suck eggs for all I care. For the past few years, my dad’s insurance had been supplied by a Blue Cross-related company, and mom’s kidney transplant treatment has been overseen by the Cleveland Clinic. Now, for whatever reason, at the beginning of this year, the company’s switched to UMPC, based in Pittsburgh, and all of mom’s progress has been effectively rubbed out. Now she’s gotta retake many of the tests she took in Cleveland in Pittsburgh. Then there’s the question of which of the doctors we’ve been going to are also covered in the new plan. Major headache, that.
I’ve started pursuing orthodontics and/or oral surgery to fix my teeth. Well, dad’s got a bug in his bonnet to pursue it, and it’s not a bad idea. I’ve just been going along with how things were. It wouldn’t be bad to get this fixed, I’d just have to pretend I’d broken my jaw playing hockey to make having my jaw wired shut seem less than depressing. Plus two or so years of braces. We’ll see how this goes, I haven’t committed yet.
Speaking of hockey, Erie didn’t get the 2005 Memorial Cup. Surprise, surprise! London, Ontario, and their 2 year old 9000 seat arena will get the honor. I know we need a new building before the city gets serious consideration for a tournament of this importance to the Canadian people. Still, it stung a bit when we didn’t get named. We’ll just have to play our way into the tournament, and see how those northerners like us then.
So anyway, things are pretty steady, all things considered. I’m working on the things I can do something about, and letting everything else settle itself out. Goodness knows, this won’t be anywhere near the new character limit, but it’s what I’ve got to say, and I’ve said it.
I’ve been stressed about money lately though. I’m still not quite sure how much of this term’s bill I’ll be paying now or with loans and grants later. Supposedly, the money I’ll be getting for fall term will also roll back to pay off my summer term, but the forms I filled out were for a school year ending this August. Oh well. I’m not even really the one footing the bill for what I owe right now; I’m borrowing money from my dad for school which is stretching the family’s already tight funds pretty thin.
The medical insurance industry can go suck eggs for all I care. For the past few years, my dad’s insurance had been supplied by a Blue Cross-related company, and mom’s kidney transplant treatment has been overseen by the Cleveland Clinic. Now, for whatever reason, at the beginning of this year, the company’s switched to UMPC, based in Pittsburgh, and all of mom’s progress has been effectively rubbed out. Now she’s gotta retake many of the tests she took in Cleveland in Pittsburgh. Then there’s the question of which of the doctors we’ve been going to are also covered in the new plan. Major headache, that.
I’ve started pursuing orthodontics and/or oral surgery to fix my teeth. Well, dad’s got a bug in his bonnet to pursue it, and it’s not a bad idea. I’ve just been going along with how things were. It wouldn’t be bad to get this fixed, I’d just have to pretend I’d broken my jaw playing hockey to make having my jaw wired shut seem less than depressing. Plus two or so years of braces. We’ll see how this goes, I haven’t committed yet.
Speaking of hockey, Erie didn’t get the 2005 Memorial Cup. Surprise, surprise! London, Ontario, and their 2 year old 9000 seat arena will get the honor. I know we need a new building before the city gets serious consideration for a tournament of this importance to the Canadian people. Still, it stung a bit when we didn’t get named. We’ll just have to play our way into the tournament, and see how those northerners like us then.
So anyway, things are pretty steady, all things considered. I’m working on the things I can do something about, and letting everything else settle itself out. Goodness knows, this won’t be anywhere near the new character limit, but it’s what I’ve got to say, and I’ve said it.
4.02.2004
Brain Burp
If you can believe it, my first term at EBC is nearing an end. There are just ten more class days left. Today was hard to get going for though. I’ve got a lingering clogged sinus condition that’s either an infection or the beginnings of my spring allergies. So last night, I had no energy, even after an afternoon nap, which, honestly, was catch-up for not sleeping well the night before. Anyway, I did a bit of reading and half a review assignment for Pro Development, and lay down on the couch to listen to the Otters game on the radio around 8. I just didn’t feel like doing anything and went to bed at 9, figuring I’d get up at 6 to finish up the stuff that had to be done for today.
I woke up right at 6 with my alarm, but really didn’t want to do the morning preparation routine, had to get angry with myself, just to get in the shower. But I did shower, and printed out some references for the research part of my interview in Speech Comm, and decided to put off for one more day the thing that’s been due for Pro Development. Basically what I fight in the mornings is my anxiety about being at class unprepared, once I get there and work at class, I feel ok. PD class was chapter review as usual, and I headed to the caff. for juice and a doughnut while I prepared for my Sp. Comm. interview.
As part of the interview, each student had to decide if our textbook’s definition and in chapter description accurately described extemporaneous speaking, which it didn’t, and we had to explain why. I did some pretty half-assed research, but was able to use personal experience with ASL, so that didn’t go too bad. The rest of the interview was fairly normal, but lack of prep make me nervous, and I could hear myself say “um, eh, ahh.” etc. though I didn’t notice until the “words” were out of my mouth. Oh well.
When people weren’t being interviewed, we were put in groups to work on our speeches, but the groups I was near ended up talking mostly about having kids, being pregnant, etc. Pretty much a blow-off class. On my way to State Street for the bus, the rain that was sprinkling off and on today had turned into icy little windblown pellets. Not fun, but what can one do? It’s an early spring day in Erie. The day got better after I got home, I went out to Taco Bell, and got one of their new and improved taco salads with lime seasoned tortilla strips and a tub of salsa. Dad had one of them a few days ago, and the couple bites I mooched off were quite tasty, so I splurged on a feel-good meal for myself today.
While I ate, I copied some cd’s onto the computer, and tried to get the album information from the internet, but Surf Erie’s being snarky and only connecting sporadically, and when it connects, it’s only in the 20 Kb range or lower. So that was frustrating, but no big deal in the scheme of things.
Now the little pellets have become some rather large and wet snowflakes. They aren’t sticking to the ground, but they’re pretty to look at. This weekend is going to be some “me” time: going to Behrend’s performance of Little Shop Of Horrors Friday, the Otters Game 2 Saturday, but I do need to get my informative speech written before then. Let’s see if the internet will work long enough for me to post this.
* nope. I wasn’t able to post this yet, so I’ll add to my play-by-play on the day since I ended my post
I played a couple games in my season of NHL 2003 after I finished writing. Good fun. Won one game, lost one by one goal. But who cares about that? Shortly after that was dinner. Ham, noodles in butter sauce, and mixed veggies. Not bad, it was good to have a sit-down dinner at the dining table with the ‘rents instead of in front of the tv.
After dinner we drove out to Office Max where I got some supplies for Pro Dev. projects and ink cartridges, then off to Borders for a browse. After much looking and debating, I got a book of stories from NHL players (who would’ve guessed?). I think when the next NHL season starts, I’ll buy a guidebook. It looks like a valuable resource, but now that this season’s practically over, the data is old. Looked at a Hellboy “graphic novel.” I don’t know how they can get away with charging $18 for a comic book, even full color on fairly glossy paper. I think I’m just getting old and cynical.
It felt good to just fart around on the computer and browse the office supply and book stores. A valuable bit of stress relief. It’s nine o’clock, and the internet still isn’t working. I can connect now, but I can’t load any pages. I guess this’ll just have to sit on my e*desktop overnight and hope for access tomorrow. I’m feeling a bit of internet withdrawal though; I haven’t been able to do my routine site visits or check email. It’s either related to this funky weather, a technical error with the ISP, or some jerk(s) think(s) it’s fun to disable the internet for April fool’s day. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.
I woke up right at 6 with my alarm, but really didn’t want to do the morning preparation routine, had to get angry with myself, just to get in the shower. But I did shower, and printed out some references for the research part of my interview in Speech Comm, and decided to put off for one more day the thing that’s been due for Pro Development. Basically what I fight in the mornings is my anxiety about being at class unprepared, once I get there and work at class, I feel ok. PD class was chapter review as usual, and I headed to the caff. for juice and a doughnut while I prepared for my Sp. Comm. interview.
As part of the interview, each student had to decide if our textbook’s definition and in chapter description accurately described extemporaneous speaking, which it didn’t, and we had to explain why. I did some pretty half-assed research, but was able to use personal experience with ASL, so that didn’t go too bad. The rest of the interview was fairly normal, but lack of prep make me nervous, and I could hear myself say “um, eh, ahh.” etc. though I didn’t notice until the “words” were out of my mouth. Oh well.
When people weren’t being interviewed, we were put in groups to work on our speeches, but the groups I was near ended up talking mostly about having kids, being pregnant, etc. Pretty much a blow-off class. On my way to State Street for the bus, the rain that was sprinkling off and on today had turned into icy little windblown pellets. Not fun, but what can one do? It’s an early spring day in Erie. The day got better after I got home, I went out to Taco Bell, and got one of their new and improved taco salads with lime seasoned tortilla strips and a tub of salsa. Dad had one of them a few days ago, and the couple bites I mooched off were quite tasty, so I splurged on a feel-good meal for myself today.
While I ate, I copied some cd’s onto the computer, and tried to get the album information from the internet, but Surf Erie’s being snarky and only connecting sporadically, and when it connects, it’s only in the 20 Kb range or lower. So that was frustrating, but no big deal in the scheme of things.
Now the little pellets have become some rather large and wet snowflakes. They aren’t sticking to the ground, but they’re pretty to look at. This weekend is going to be some “me” time: going to Behrend’s performance of Little Shop Of Horrors Friday, the Otters Game 2 Saturday, but I do need to get my informative speech written before then. Let’s see if the internet will work long enough for me to post this.
* nope. I wasn’t able to post this yet, so I’ll add to my play-by-play on the day since I ended my post
I played a couple games in my season of NHL 2003 after I finished writing. Good fun. Won one game, lost one by one goal. But who cares about that? Shortly after that was dinner. Ham, noodles in butter sauce, and mixed veggies. Not bad, it was good to have a sit-down dinner at the dining table with the ‘rents instead of in front of the tv.
After dinner we drove out to Office Max where I got some supplies for Pro Dev. projects and ink cartridges, then off to Borders for a browse. After much looking and debating, I got a book of stories from NHL players (who would’ve guessed?). I think when the next NHL season starts, I’ll buy a guidebook. It looks like a valuable resource, but now that this season’s practically over, the data is old. Looked at a Hellboy “graphic novel.” I don’t know how they can get away with charging $18 for a comic book, even full color on fairly glossy paper. I think I’m just getting old and cynical.
It felt good to just fart around on the computer and browse the office supply and book stores. A valuable bit of stress relief. It’s nine o’clock, and the internet still isn’t working. I can connect now, but I can’t load any pages. I guess this’ll just have to sit on my e*desktop overnight and hope for access tomorrow. I’m feeling a bit of internet withdrawal though; I haven’t been able to do my routine site visits or check email. It’s either related to this funky weather, a technical error with the ISP, or some jerk(s) think(s) it’s fun to disable the internet for April fool’s day. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.
2.26.2004
I’m In! and Birthday Bash
Everything has come together. My new school accepted my loan application today, clearing the way for me to start classes on Monday. For the next eight weeks, I’ll be taking two classes a day, four days a week, working toward an associate degree in computer programming. The past 4 or five weeks have been really stressful regarding the whole school thing. In the back of my mind, I knew I would be accepted and could start classes, but being officially notified is always better. I’m also really emotional over the fact that I am going back to school at all. It’s something I was supposed to be doing almost exactly a year ago, but now I am doing it. So WHOOO!!! It feels so good to be doing something with my life now.
In other news, I turned twenty-four February 20th. Went with my dad and brother to the hockey game that night, and watched our boys play an amazing game that I can no longer remember the details of. On Saturday, a neighborhood friend who would be returning to Canada to get back to college the next day invited my brother and me on a day of fun and frolic that I sort of counted as a birthday celebration. First up was an early dinner at Max and Irma’s. Seating arrangements around the table, clockwise, starting at myself: my brother, a friend of K’s that she brought out of Canada to the States, K’s brother, her dad and mom. I had a delicious meatloaf sandwich with sautéed onions and the best restaurant mashed potatoes I’ve had in a long time, along with a bowl of soup that tasted verymuch like chicken quesedillas. Dinner was excellent, but was so large; I actually had to bring half of my sandwich along with me to the rest of the night’s activities, in which we proceeded to the local movie googolplex to watch Big Fish.
Big Fish was better than I expected, though I don’t really know what I was expecting. An interesting tale about a son who wants to learn the “truth” about a dying father who turned his life into a series of tall tales; it was quite entertaining, not too preachy, a solid film.
Oh, between dinner and the movie, there was about an hour to kill, so we all spent that time wandering the new location for the Sports Store next to the theatre. In the soccer equipment isle, my brother put a row of cones across the isle for the next person to come through to figure out.
After the store escapades and the movie we went back to K’s house. We played a rousing game of 3 on two foosball, K and her brother narrowly beating myself, my brother and J, K’s friend. After that we sat and talked about our various school experiences and played with the cats for a while. I had a great time and had fun hanging out with such fun people. I look forward to doing it again sometime in the near future.
In other news, I turned twenty-four February 20th. Went with my dad and brother to the hockey game that night, and watched our boys play an amazing game that I can no longer remember the details of. On Saturday, a neighborhood friend who would be returning to Canada to get back to college the next day invited my brother and me on a day of fun and frolic that I sort of counted as a birthday celebration. First up was an early dinner at Max and Irma’s. Seating arrangements around the table, clockwise, starting at myself: my brother, a friend of K’s that she brought out of Canada to the States, K’s brother, her dad and mom. I had a delicious meatloaf sandwich with sautéed onions and the best restaurant mashed potatoes I’ve had in a long time, along with a bowl of soup that tasted verymuch like chicken quesedillas. Dinner was excellent, but was so large; I actually had to bring half of my sandwich along with me to the rest of the night’s activities, in which we proceeded to the local movie googolplex to watch Big Fish.
Big Fish was better than I expected, though I don’t really know what I was expecting. An interesting tale about a son who wants to learn the “truth” about a dying father who turned his life into a series of tall tales; it was quite entertaining, not too preachy, a solid film.
Oh, between dinner and the movie, there was about an hour to kill, so we all spent that time wandering the new location for the Sports Store next to the theatre. In the soccer equipment isle, my brother put a row of cones across the isle for the next person to come through to figure out.
After the store escapades and the movie we went back to K’s house. We played a rousing game of 3 on two foosball, K and her brother narrowly beating myself, my brother and J, K’s friend. After that we sat and talked about our various school experiences and played with the cats for a while. I had a great time and had fun hanging out with such fun people. I look forward to doing it again sometime in the near future.
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