Over recent days I’ve felt strangely disoriented at times, both physically and mentally.  I incorrectly estimated a corner and walked into a wall in my apartment yesterday and I spent ~11 minutes this afternoon trying to sort out some strange balance feeling I had.  I can assure you I’m not actually playing pin the tail on the donkey or whacking a pinata, but I certainly have felt like some force has been spinning me around.

Remember, all that was talking about physically feeling disoriented.  While it’s pretty unpleasant and has upset my stomach from time to time, I’m not too worried.  The physical state of me isn’t that important approximately all the time (and I’m pretty decent at autocorrecting for feeling dizzy).  I also remembered to buy some ginger ale today to help qualm my stomach a bit.

Feeling mentally disoriented is much more unpleasant for me. I’ve spent the past as-long-as-I-can-remember walking in a straight line, like on a balance beam or something.  And I don’t even do tricks on this beam like some people might… there are a lot of people out in there who, like me, tend to walk a pretty straight line but they get their kicks by jumping or doing some kind of handstand thing…. I keep things pretty simple and just walk.  In the interest of full disclosure, there are of course others who switch beams all the time or walk on non-straight beams, but I think that’s a whole different can of worms…. not a bad can, just a different one.

What stands out as so strange is that I’ve been walking in this straight line so long I can’t easily explain any disorientation.  If I was spinning in circles or walking in a spiral that would make sense.  If I was jumping from beam to beam I could definitely account for a little confusion every now and then but I’m not, I haven’t even done any tricky moves on my beam that I can recall.  Perhaps I’ve had trouble finding a solid point of reference, like walking in one of those fun-houses with spinning walls.  Unfortunately, whatever funhouse I’ve wandered into is not very fun.

Usually I write something down and feel worse after writing it, then I go to bed and wake up without having to worry about things. I actually wrote that before I did a few dinner dishes and found myself feeling a bit better later.  I think doing the dishes helped focus my mind for a few minutes.  Note to self – find more dirty dishes to wash.

There are many times in life when I wish I could just be a passenger on someone else’s boat.  I really think that most of the time it’s nice to not have to worry about every little thing and chart out exactly where you’re going next.  Sure, you can’t do much but complain when you sail into choppy seas but a good captain wants to navigate out of that quickly too.  Unfortunately there aren’t enough boats headed in my direction for me to be a passenger (and I would be a pretty good passenger, offering to the dishes and swab the decks, etc) so I’m left to be a captain of my own vessel.  Sure, sometimes having your own ship is really cool when people point and are like hey, that guy’s on a boat (or something like that)… but other times the seas can be awfully lonely, charting where to go next can be very tricky, and we all know a good captain can’t fall asleep.

I would really like to talk about transience, but I need to get some lactose issues off my mind first.

I think that skim, 1%, 2% and those other low fat milks feel pretty stupid most of the time.  I understand whole milk isn’t the most health conscious choice for most people, but it is whole milk… as in the default option.  It’s not like they are making the regular milk more dense or anything like that.  I think what bothers me is the notion of watering it down, like you want to drink milk to feel healthy or something like that but you don’t want all of the milk so you’re just going to water it down and bit and pretend things are normal.  If you want to drink water than just do that or if you want to drink milk you should go that route, I don’t know mixing them is fair to the cow or the water…. and it probably makes the milk feel inadequate or like someone you have to interact with just to get a job done but you really don’t like them that much.  I think Diet Soda’s might fall into the same category, but a whole lot more chemistry / engineering / work goes into that process, you don’t just add extra water to cola and sell it as diet cola.

Following the lactose trend we’ll talk about ice cream.  When I lived at home with my parents growing up I would eat ice cream on a fairly regular basis, but as I grew older I decided to stop because it’s hard to eat ice cream and operate a computer at the same time and I think my parents were just trying to fatten me up.  Now when I eat ice cream I tend to eat really conservatively, like plain old vanilla or chocolate.  I’ve found, through extremely limited trials, most of the flavors at a place like Coldstone are too exciting for my stomach to enjoy.  Initially I think this was a menu thing, like I had to order quickly (time was running out) so I chose something and just stuck with it because that was easier.  It was also nice to eat ice cream for a change, so if it wasn’t upsetting my stomach I saw no reason to change and try another combination / flavor.

I don’t have this craving to go to Coldstone right now (maybe Friendlies) but I’ve given thought to trying something different. There was once a day when I liked gummy bears on my ice cream, so that notion has popped up again.  I’ve also given thought to trying like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, which used to be my favorite flavor but I haven’t had it in years.  In my mind I don’t understand where these strange ice cream thoughts are coming from though… it’s not like I eat ice cream often and have recently gotten bored of the same thing every night. Nor have I had a particularly unpleasant experience with any of my regular choices.  Luckily, I don’t find myself in the ice cream isle at the grocery store or at a Coldstone/Friendlies prompted to make an order…and if I did I’d probably play it safe for now anyways.

Good night moon.

Lately my VPS has been stalling out for unknown reasons.  Well, I should say known reasons to me.  If I were to guess, I’m hosting on an oversold box and one or two of the other users are a) morons b) running high traffic/load sites c) have been hacked.  I tend to stick with answer B or C because most people don’t pay a monthly bill to be a moron.  I’m considering switching hosts, but its always such a big deal to package everything up.. move it over… make sure things are working… etc.  I like the “set it and forget it” concept.

If you were wondering why I hadn’t blogged in a while its pretty simple, a lot of people died.  No, no one I was particularly close to passed away but its all over the news and that frustrates me.  I remember when President Reagan and President Ford died, and I don’t recall Larry King talking about them for over 2 weeks!  I understand finding worthwhile news is challenging, and yes… some people do great things that deserve recognition… but I’ve always been a fan of the “hey you’re alive I’m going to tell you that you’ve done a great job” strategy.  The whole “on no you died, but I thought you were cool now that I am paying attention to you” plan doesn’t make much sense to me.  That is why I send people short emails to say thanks or try to express my appreciation for their work while they are still alive.  And I’ve just been really busy, the main reason why I haven’t been blogging.

I think that most people flap too much, and could use some consistency.  I strive to be as consistent as possible, and if that means repeating the same thing over and over again I will.  Its not that I’m opposed to change, but I’m opposed to changing and later having to revert back and then wanting to change again.  If I’m going to change something, reverse a behavior, change up the pants I wear on a Wednesday,  I need to know that I can firmly hold that change and consistently apply it.

The consistency I practice also helps to make me immune to some “hot trends” which is both good and bad.  Its good because I don’t go out an buy the latest cool thing every month… but it can hurt me because people find me outdated, old fashioned, and boring.  I can be hard communicate the old fashioned ways to people caught up in the latest and greatest trends, which troubles me regularly.  I understand what I understand and it works.  We could consider reinventing the wheel, but the current system seems pretty darn stable as it is; at least that’s how I see it.

Goodnight moon.

Its not the weather I don’t enjoy.  I don’t mind the fact that it tends to be warm or hot during the summer.  Sometimes I actually enjoy the heat, it can be a pleasant change from a cold spring day.  Wearing a heavy coat can be burdensome at times, and the opportunity to go without one is welcomed when appropriate.  I also don’t dislike the inherit items associated with summer like vacation or the lack of school.

I dislike how people react to summer.  Everyone gets all “hooray! the weather is nice again” and then everyone turns into an optimist.  I don’t like it when people are optimistic because of the weather, you should work for your optimism.  Part of this yearly renewed excitement is an increased sense of freedom people feel.  People reduce the length of their pants or dresses/skirts “because its warm out.”  Yea right, we both know that people aren’t doing that because its physically warm out.  Rather people are doing it to feel less constrained and more free; which I am opposed to.

If you recall my thesis on “Chest Fabric Density” from Jan 2008, I’m going to be applying many of the same arguments here.  You see, during my years attending formal dances in a high school setting, I found that people girls were wearing dresses exposing more and more skin and buying less dress.  No, I’m not opposed to people exposing skin if appropriate, but when people who should not be exposing skin do it really bothers me.   Some people might say “more power to ya” to a person with lots of mass wearing very ‘limited’ garment, while I think “Really? Did you have to?”

You see in summer, everyone thinks that they should wear whatever they want because “its warm”.  Sometimes people wear bathing suite, even when they are not intending on going swimming or getting wet!  Tomfoolery!  More likely, are people who’s pelvis & leg coverings are inappropriate.  Males:  If you shorts are exposing an awkwardly white portion of your thigh or more than 3 inches from your kneecap in either direction you need new ones.  Yes, this includes those strange guys who wear ‘Capri’ style pants.  Females:  If you are wearing shorts, and cannot comfortably place a pencil in your pocket without it sticking out, your shorts are probably too short… or you need new pockets.  If your pockets are hanging out of the bottom of them, you and your shorts are immediately disqualified.  Logically, a skirt has a larger minimum length than shorts because it doesn’t provide appropriate inner leg coverage.  While I’m not going to work out all the trigonometry here, I suggest you ensure that the inside angle from the bottom of your skirt to the vertext of your legs is no larger than 45 degrees, a 30 degree angle may be more appropriate, but it really depends on thigh thickness.  Additionally, if you feel your rear is not being completely covered  when sitting, you are dressed inappropriately.

Actually my biggest pet peeve about summer dress are “flip flops”.  I’ve written many blogs discussing my dislike for these abysmal excuses for footwear, but everyone feels the need to wear them when approximately no one should.

While I spent a lot of time talking about clothes, the issues I have with summer are larger.  People spend time outside relaxing, “sun bathing” aka skin-cancerizing, socializing, playing sports, etc.  Yes, statistically speaking they have been doing this all year…  but in private.  I’m not sure if I dislike, or I get jealous, when people publicly do enjoy these things.  Its much harder for me to be cognizant of you you at a party when its winter and you are inside, but when you are own your lawn I can very quickly determine what I need to.

I don’t dislike the changes in the weather, I dislike the changes in people as a result of the weather.

I walk fairly fast and pass a fairly large number of people each when I’m going places.  In crowded areas, like outside a school building or in a dining hall people are getting passed and changing directions left and right, and I really don’t need to anything special to let them know I’m approaching their flank.

Walking on Sherry Road down from BARH is a different story.  There usually only 2-3 other people walking on the same street… not a very densely populated route at all.  If I’m coming up one someone, maybe 20 feet away, I will drag a foot once or twice when taking a step.  Just enough to make a noticeable sound, but not enough to sound as if I just fell over like a moron.  The closer I get to passing someone, the frequency to which I drag my feet increases.  Right before passing someone I probably drag both feet at least once; so if they haven’t noticed I’m right behind them at this point they really should turn their ipod volume down.

An attentive person, aware that I am gaining on them, allows me to pass with little hassle.  Sometimes people slow down when I get closer to help me pass quicker, I don’t really care.  Others might glance over their shoulder to check if I’m carrying a knife or gun or something.  If the person I’m going to pass is really with-it, they will choose a side of the sidewalk to stay on, such that I don’t have to pass them on the grass or bordering lawn.

The problem really occurs when I don’t drag my feet.  For whatever reason I just don’t feel like giving my shoes the extra mileage, or maybe I’m in an extra hurry or something.  Lots of people freak out if you pass them, especially if you approach them rather silently.  I can count numerous expressions people have given me indicating some sense of shock and surprise.

Sometimes I want to wear a sign indicating that I am not here to assault, rape, or otherwise threaten anyone and I would really appreciate it if you didn’t look like you are considering stabbing me.  I try not to look super creepy most of the time too!

Here are some cases I see once or twice a week:

Passing Target: Girl

Course of Action: Drag my feet early and often.  Girl will turn around an average of 3 times to scope me out.  If the girl is on a phone or clearly distracted (potentially by another girl) I may cough moderately loudly.  Sometimes females respond by departing the sidewalk for the other side of the road.. problem solved.  Otherwise, upon getting within a reasonable distance girls tend to slow down to a really really slow speed.  Maybe they are saving their energy encase they need to sprint away from me… but I doubt it.  Sometimes girls stop walking and pretend to get a phone call.  I can usually tell when a phone call is real because the phone rings.  In either case, I keep walking as quickly as possible and avoid making eye contact.  Only looking to see if they are about to stab me in the side or attack me with pepper spray.

Passing Target: Football/Hockey/Player of sports that require people of the ‘large’ body build

Course of Action:  Ok, my goal here is to avoid triggering a potential knee-jerk reaction of being punched in the face.  I am less than confident with the notion of startling a {insert position here} and catching them off guard, so I will do my best to avoid that.  Apply similar strategies like when passing a girl.  I am less likely to cough here, as I don’t like leaving an impression that I am some sickly nerd and therefore increase my personal unpleasantness level.  Passing a larger target can be more delicate.  If I step off the sidewalk, I may be implying that they are wide/fat.  Staying on the sidewalk risks an awkward side brush.

Passing: Someone walking in the middle of a small sidewalk

Course of Action: Get behind them and start dragging my feet, hoping to signal to them that someone is right behind them and they should consider picking a side.  This approach rarely works.  Instead I have to pick up speed and traverse the terrain next to the sidewalk, which slows me down significantly.  Doing this triggers the person to switch to the far side of the sidewalk (furthest from where I crossed)… which is of no use to me since I already passed them!  Way to be aware of your surroundings.

Passing: Small/Tall/Scrawny Male much like myself

Course of Action:  It really depends on my mood.  On a good day, I’ll try inform them of my presence gently with a drag or two.  On a bad day I will blow right by them and they might jump or emit some “eek” sound effect (commonly a sharp inhale) when I pass them while thinking to myself why is this person walking so slow.  Clearly they aren’t enjoying a scenic stroll down the same road they’ve walked down for the last N days.  Picking up the pace is a valid exercise, which is useful to counteract the effects of sitting in front of a computer screen for many hours at a time.

Usually these strategies have to be applied to a larger degree at night, when people are more fearful of walking on a road who’s street lights turn on and off like blinking christmas lights.  Sometimes I’m on the phone and don’t have to apply these techniques, or sometimes I pretend to be on the phone just because.

I dislike it when The Poly doesn’t endorse candidates.  As a result, I am not endorsing The Rensselaer Polytechnic as a legitimate source for campus information and opinion… that would be the act of negatively endorsing.. not just avoiding the issue like they do.  Sure, the decision might be hard… and they’ll have to communicate with the winner, even if they didn’t endorse him/her which might be awkward… but if they are going to be in the business of endorsing people than they should do so.  If they are in the business of offering biased opinion in response to an interview than they should change their model to that, a more accurate reflection of what they’ve done the past 2-3 years.  This lack of endorsement gives me the sensation that The Poly feels neither candidate will do a good job, and that maybe I’d be better writing someone in.  I am unsure how familiar The Poly staff is with the job of GM and Student Government at RPI.  Historically speaking their ed/op articles on the subject have been terribly slanted and I view them as slightly out of touch.  No, I can’t say that I’m in the SGS 24/7, nor have I attended every minute of ever senate meeting ever, but I do my darnedest to be informed as to what is going on whereas they opt to make up the rest of the story.  I have hope that some day The Poly will write something positive about Student Government at RPI.  Despite the many failures of student government at RPI over the year, there have been a few success, which tend to go untouted outside the Top Hat column.

I dislike it when candidates running for office cite being in the “Web Tech Group” as a qualification for office.  While I think that the members of the WTG running for office are well informed people and it shows campus involvement, being in a group responsible for making websites isn’t the reason why they are informed or extra qualified for the job.  I would cite an involvement with student government or the senate.. not a distant adgency.. possibly remarking on a specific area or two that one is familiar with.  It would look very dumb if I wrote “Can write PHP, RoR, and HTML” as a qualification for Senator…  maybe if I was hoping to be CIO again I would do that.. but Senator? really?  I think back to some of the top Senator’s I’ve seen over the years, and I have trouble citing anyone who has been effective at office because they were good with computers.

I dislike it when candidates hope to better “use” the WTG to fight the campus communication battle.  Last time I checked, none of us were robots or tools that could be “used.”  As the CIO, I report to the Senate and could therefore be responsible for projects from the Senate, but at no point am I required to pass off projects the group because it has been said.  The WTG tends to do its own thing, with a strategically-ill-defined adgenda that overlaps a few broad areas that the Senate Student Governemnt is interested in.  If I have the pleasure to be CIO next year, I look working to working with the elected people to figure out what we can do to help.  I do not look forward to being used by an elected person to communicate something because they said so.  I actually don’t think this is an issue, as its likely a poor choice in words and not reflective of a mentality… never the less, I can dislike it.

People who untag themselves from photos that they are clearly in are also commiting a practice I dislike.  I won’t untag myself from a photo unless I am actually not in the photo… like when my iLife identifies me instead of my brother… a legitimate mistake which I should correct.  I guess I could be embarassed about the photo or fearful some employer might find it one day and be like “hark!  what are you doing in that photo?  remind me again why I should hire you?”  Personally, I minimize my engagment in things that I’m not comfortable being documented.  Take photos of me all the time I’m in public for all I care… you need not consult me.  If I don’t want to be documented, I’ll creatively hide from the photo, such that I cannot be identified or I’ll adjust my behavior to something I am comfortable being documented in… you shouldn’t have to adjust your picture taking efforts to me.  If you are embarassed about a photo taken of you maybe you should rethink what you’re doing… not the photo.

Traditionally, I’ve been in support of people doing moderately illogical things if they help to achieve a longer term logical goal.  Learning their is no longer term logical goal invalidates my support of the illogical behavior and I will reclassify it as a waste of time.  That said, its too bad more people didn’t have longer term goals or committments in life at a young age.  As a member of the Boy Scouts of America, there was a pretty well defined long term goal sequence (and by long term I mean like 6-8 years).  Academia doesn’t present these sort of long term committments unless you’re a faculty member, at which point you can go really really long term.  Looking around at students I think that people are unwilling to stick with something.  Its not that they are necessarily going to change and move on to something else, but rather people seem unwilling to settle down and accept a burden.  While life can be quite dynamic, there are many things that aren’t really going to change, and in my effor to better society in some way, I am interested in doing my part to help out with the more stable things… in whatever capacity I can.  Be it today, tomorrow, or 4 years from now.

Its that time again, time to figure out what I’m doing next fall. I have a conceptual problem with everything I need to do, because I haven’t figured out whats going on this summer and I try to take things one step at a time. Summer would be the next step after Spring, not Fall. What is this, some kind of funny dance?

I have to squat my room tomorrow so that I can live in it again next year. There is nothing particularly special about this room, but there is nothing super wrong with it either. I considered living off campus for about 4 minutes, after which I decided it was probably not in my best interests. I enjoy the ability to run away from people/problems/things and go somewhere that I can be alone (or with complete strangers who don’t associate with me.. so its like being alone) and I’ve found that living in a single in the basement of BARH here @ RPI does a provides an adequate space for that. Living off campus would likely place me in close proximity to other people who I knew, making it harder for me to escape from any potential situations that might arise. I also like being lonely in my room sometimes… other times I like to pretend the people in the study room across the hall care about my existence even thought that is never true.

Since I’m squatting a room, and since that room is in BARH, I am required to have a dining plan. The choices are not really super for me. I would like a meal plan that enables me to eat 3 meals a day on 3-5 days a week, and 2 meals a day on the other days. Then I wouldn’t feel bad eating something from the Union, which is not covered by any meal plan. My choices are to eat as much as I want from 7:30am – 3:00pm for ~$1650/semester or to eat as much as I want from 7:30am – 7:30pm for ~$2500/semester. Its a tough call, as I enjoy the convenience of having Commons available for a quick dinner before a Senate meeting or something at 5:00, but I also can’t say that I eat 21 meals there a week. I don’t know how many weeks there are in a semester, but I’ll use the number 17 for my math. Lets say I eat 3 meals a day in a dining hall 4 days each week, that means I miss around 51 meals each semester. Assume an average cost per meal of $7 (2500/(17*7*3)). By not eating 2 meals in the dining hall each week, I am loosing $357 a semester. Honestly I was expecting that number to come out higher, and I suspect I’m doing a very poor job estimating how many meals I consume per week in a dining hall. Too bad I couldn’t access the accounting of this sort of stuff. See I really wish I could do this per meal like some colleges, where you are allocated N meals per week.. or even a declining balance idea. Then I could only buy 15 meals/week or something and use them as I want. That would cover the days I choose to eat lunch elsewhere but eat dinner in the dining hall.

I am actually taking a different approach to some of the math right now. I need decide if dinner is worth 736.5/semester.

Thats only one of the issues to decide on. Technically I don’t have to decide for a long time, but if I say something tomorrow I get $50 free ‘Bonus Bucks’, which is incentive to make a decision. The other issue is the registering for classes next semester.

There is this requirement here at RPI that you meet with your academic advisor before registering for classes… they’ve implemented it in the registration software so you can’t get around it. I’m not opposed to having someone to review my academic and provide any advice they had… I think it could be a really useful experience. Of course the current implementation (at least for me) hasn’t been useful at all. I’ve gotten a new advisor each year I’ve been here and I’ve never met with any one advisor more than once. There is great continuity going on here you can tell.

So I emailed my new advisor to see if he was available for a meeting anytime this week, where I was told to come to his office hours today. I did, showing up 15 minutes after his hours started… someone was already in there with him and there was someone waiting outside so I figured I would be there for like 10 minutes max. I took a seat on the floor a small distance away when another kid showed up and stole my place in line. Big deal, my wait has been extended to 15 minutes. Ha! I wish. I waited there until for 50 minutes for him to get to me in line but it was still not my turn… I was next. The line had grown by 1 student, but I had to dash off to turn in a lab for web system @ 4. I got back to the queue area by 4:16 and the line now had 5 new students in it, just what I neglected to take into account. Everyone getting out of a 2-4 class would be showing up now. I figure the guy has got to notice the bulk of students waiting for advisement, so he should speed the process up or something… nope! I waited an additional 45 minutes, during which he got through 3 students, at which point the designated hours ending.. leaving me + 2 others to figure something else out. I emailed him, explaining how the queue was too long, but he’s unavailable tomorrow and Friday, so I’ve got to wait until Monday to meet with him.. the same day I can register for classes. Hopefully he tell me there is a bulk time for everyone again.. if he does I may camp out in the JEC early so I can get in there without having to wait so long.

Mainly I dislike how I wasted 1.5 hours waiting around today.

I was primarily wondering how the position in which I sit effects the messages by which I send. We’ll see how this comes out, and throw it in the datapool to be fished out some time later.

Today has been one of those less than moderate kind of days. If someone had asked me how I was doing I would have said “Okay, yourself?” And while I’m actually doing less than Okay (which I equate to around a 60% on the “Day is going good-o-meter”), I would never say that I am having a bad day, because then the other persons feels obligated to listen even though they probably don’t care… and if I don’t share with them I look like a self-centered person too. So I say “Okay”. I’ve also considered saying “I’ve had better”, which would enable me to talk about how I have had really good days without focusing so much on today. A tactic only to be used to avoid talking about the current day. But no one really asked, so it doesn’t really matter.

I got a haircut today from Nick at Nick’s Barbershop. Nick is old, and doesn’t work very often anymore, so I was surprised to see him there. He gave me a nice haircut, and didn’t distract me by talking about baseball or Judge Judy… subjects I only pretend to know about because I am sitting in a chair and someone has the future of my head for the next few weeks in their hands.

Mom is trying to make me get fat again. I really don’t like it when she, or anyone, tries to do this. She has always said to me that once upon a time she was as skinny as I was, and that I will gain weight someday. I don’t recall any point in that story where her mom cooked her 2 times the amount of food she wanted. If I am to gain weight, likely caused by a slowing metabolism, poor nutrition, and lackluster exercise habits… I don’t think the gaining weight beforehand process is going to be a positive contributer. Luckily, returning to college next week will enable me to avoid just enough food to counteract the extra large portions mom has been preparing this week. Hopefully my lack of a scale at RPI will report that I am back at my normal weight in no time.

I was trying to think of things that I would want in my life, and continually coming back to a central theme of desire. I won’t lie to you, I think there is something deeper than desire, or desirability, but I’m not sure what it is yet. I can site many an example where I would like to be desired in some way. Certainly not in the physical sense… I won’t joke around with you. No one swoons when I walk through the door; though I try not to make anyone feel nauseous. Its like hrm, pull out your mobile communication device and look at how many incoming communications you receive where someone actually needs you for something… that would be total # of incoming calls minus # of incoming calls where a parrot could be on the other end of the phone. [There is a story about a parrot I should tell if I haven't already]. You could measure the same online via email, website, digital message, etc applying a similar heuristic. As one program calculated today, I have roughly a 0.6% desire ranking. I do not know what a 100% desire ranking, but I think that might be for someone like President Obama, an executive at a company, etc. I don’t think that becoming a phone operator or directory assistance person would solve my problems either, I think there is something deeper I should be exploring with the time I don’t have.

I have developed a new theory. Its quite simple, and pretty catchy. There are some days you should build bridges, and others you just need to shoot zombies.

I would explain it now, but my battery is reporting 17 minutes left which is probably inaccurate.

Goodnight Moon.

Last night a lot of students gathered in the SGS at RPI and decided that something needed to be done address the transparency issues which were aggravated by some stuff Reslife did.  The word on the street is that they hired 0 freshmen, even though they let them go through all the motions and stuff.  I don’t think that makes a lot of sense, so I (and others) expect them to hire some freshmen to avoid looking weird.

The Office of the Grand Marshal, aka Kara Chesal, issued a press release about the event which is completely within her powers, but something I haven’t seen a GM do in the past two years I’ve been following the Senate.  I think its because she, as an RA/RD and someone who is friends with lots of RAs and RDs cares extra.  Past GMs maybe haven’t cared so much, though they both have had background within Reslife and/or FYE.

Additionally, the compensation for RAs has been adjusted significantly.  Again, I have no clue what they are making this year, but I believe next year they are making -$500 – meal plan.  That would be they have to pay $500 for their room ($5500 for room – $5000 stipend) and they are required to have a meal plan.  If I knew what they were making now I would be able to say if that is fair or not.  One thing I found strange is even the RA’s who live in apartment complexes on campus are required to have a meal plan.  Some of these apartments, mind you they have kitchens, are not so close to any dining hall on campus.

If you ask me what I would like some ‘transparency’ about, it would be the increase in room rates.  As I see it, RPI does a pretty good job doing triage on the current dorms here but not much else.  Sure, they have renovated a hotel to turn it into a new dorm to accommodate the sophomores gotta live on campus requirement (SGLOC) but BARH is a decade or two behind the times.   I know the extra money I’ll be paying won’t be going to increase the compensation for my RA/RD staff [nor would I really like that], nor will the money I’ll be paying go to fix up the bathroom, clean up the radiator, or give me new closets.  Maybe they will replace the doorknob next year, because at the current rate it is loose enough to fall off one of these days.  I hypothesize that a broken door knob might catch someone’s attention in the Phys Fac ER… just like my window screen that fell out 3 months ago will catch the attention of the lawmmover guy when he runs it over.

I was up early yesterday and saw some posters for the event on campus.  There was a really eye catching one (possibly designed by Marc Ebuna) posted on the door to get into Commons.  Students were stopping to read what it was about and everything.  Of course they were also getting slammed in the face by the door, as the poster was covering the window that enables you to see if someone is exiting.  It didn’t last very long on the door, torn down by around 8:40am.

So yesterday a little after 5, a lot of students gathered infront of the Sage dining hall to ‘uprise’ about these issues as well as many others.  I think most people were their because they didn’t understand what was going on, and determined that was a reason to uprise.  I guess that idea works.  I can’t throw a guess to the numbers, but some photos might lead me to place a number between 300-400 at the peak.   The part of the rally that I’ve seen was so-so, speeched seemed slightly inspiring but lacked a lot of substance in my book; I’m sure others feel differently.

The follow up is going to be interesting though.  A decent number of students showed up, chanted some stuff as the Trustees walked by, and that was that.  Whats going to happen next?  I can only hope the student leaders driving this movement continue fighting for whatever it is they are fighting for.

One thing I found interesting is how the Times Union report, Marc Parry, was forced to leave the protest by Jason Gorss (RPI Media Relations guy).  Sure, RPI has every right to ask someone to leave their private property but I guess I’m uninformed as to why.  Sure, his work tends to have a slant to it, and some commentary in the S&W indicates he might not get all the facts right, but he still writes for a larger paper in the Albany area.  I wonder if another reporter had come from that paper, if he/she would have been asked to leave?

I’ve decided that RPInsider isn’t as sketchy as I first thought it was, as they don’t have a massive student-slant and their content is pretty timely.  Now to figure out who runs it… lol.  Additionally, RPI TV was out in full force covering the event.  There are some initial clips on the website right now, and I expect more to be up there this weekend.  RPI strategically brought in Larry Wilmore last night to help everyone forget about their uprising and to distract the student media organizations from getting out the ‘breaking story’.  If he wasn’t at EMPAC last night, I’m almost positive that there would be more student discussion about stuff.

I also like to use sunlight because it means the windows are open.  While I’m not an ophthalmologist, I think looking outside the windows every so often is good for my eyes.  I hope to avoid having to wear corrective lenses for as long as possible.  Looking at a computer screen isn’t the best of conditions for my eyes, but looking outside the window at objects further away seems like good excersize.  In addition I like to have moderate to strong lights on to reduce any strain when looking at computer monitors, for the same reason I tend to not like watching extended TV sessions in the dark.  Televisions due tend to have much larger viewing areas, and emit a more ambient light, but its still the same situation.

Light also lets me see things, which is pretty important.  I could leave all the lights off and pretend that things I can’t see are just like a bottomless black pit, but I don’t subscribe to that philisophy.  Sure, I don’t need to see everything all round me all the time, but its very handy when I need to put something down, throw something out, or find something.  When I need to move, its very easy to identify what I need and where it is to ensure I have all the appropriate equiptment.  More commonly than not, I produce a piece of trash like a wrapper or a scrap of paper I look around a trashcan to deposit it in.   Personally I’m always up for a good hunt, but sometimes I’m feeling a bit lazy and would rather not scrouge around for a trashcan so I just look around and, since the lights are on, I can pretty easily spot it.

Of course I also limit the amount of trash producing stuff around me by limiting the area in which I produce trash to those areas where I know I will be able to dispose of it.  Rarely do I produce waste in such an enviroment wheren I won’t be able to throw it away by getting distracted.  When I start to eat a sandwich, only two options exist for me.  1.  Finish the sandwich so there is nothing left of it or 2. Throw it away in a proper recepticle.  Nowhere do I consider mashing it intro the ground or leaving it for someone else to finish.

That said, I didn’t always used to be this way.  There was once a day when I didn’t fold up blankets after I (or someone who I was hosting) used them.  In past, my basement has had a few empty soda cans in it.  But then it hit me, if I don’t clean up after myself… who will?  My mom certainly doesn’t venture downstairs very much, and my brother and dad aren’t very great at the whole cleaning up stuff.  (My dad just bleaches the bathroom, and Kevin…. I think he might have vaccummed once or twice.)  Somewhere in this transition I recognized it was important to do it ASAP.  Be it before departing the basement, or upon returing from transporting someone to their house, I always put forth the effort to check and make sure things are how I found it.  This way, the next time I  or someone else goes down there, the space will be in optimal shape.

I used to be under the impression that no one really used the basement, and in turn I didn’t have to worry about cleaning up after myself.  Thats just not true.  Dad goes down there to iron, and mom may go into the closet or the the shelves to get some food.  Its very hard to predict when someone is going to want to do something, and in turn you should always be prepared… especially if you aren’t staying onsite to quickly prepare if needed.

My basement doesn’t have a refridgerator, which I think is good.  We once considered putting a little one down there to store sodas and small snacks, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that was a bad idea.  Just upstairs there is the kitchen with everything in it, and the garage is only a few feet away with the soda.  The convience is of nomial consideration to me.  If I want a soda, I should be able to walk more than 5 feet to get it.  If I’m feeling to stubborn to go out into the garage to get one than I probably don’t need one.

On a different note, I would like to go out to Friendly’s a get something to eat.  I was hoping to go out last weekend, but those plans fell through, and then I was hoping to go out this weekend for lunch their, but we went there after I had already eaten dinner so I just got some soup.  When I go I will strongly consider gettig ice cream after my meal, some I have also been desiring but have not yet come across the optimal conditions to engage in.

My voice is starting to come back which is good, just in time for another round of yelling.  I always enjoy it when nobody does anything; don’t you?

Goodnight Moon.

While those events are ongoing for the time being, Christmas is not.  And I am glad about that.  This year’s Christmas was no different from many holidays around here.  Dad invites Katie over for the holiday meal, mom later re-invites Katie over… not knowing   A few days later Mom remind me of the outstanding invitation, potentially changing it slightly (from say dinner, to desert after dinner) as well as reminding me how she might feel awkward in a family gathering situation, and she should not feel pressured in any way to attend.  Since this is Christmas, my mom also took steps to explain to Katie how the food we eat on Christmas Eve isn’t very appealing, and how it might be disrespectful if one didn’t eat at the table.  So Katie didn’t join us for Christmas Eve to eat with the extended family, but she did come over on Christmas to eat roast beef with my immediate family (mom, dad, me, Kevin).

I’ve always wondered about these polish traditions, while I know that the food we eat is traditional, I wonder if there is some strong reason why its always eaten on Christmas Eve.  I’ve considered a scenario where my grandfather (or his father, etc, etc) (who’s proper polish title I would mutilate) being like hrm, its Christmas Eve so we can’t eat meat.  What delicious food can my wife cook?  And then, because he was polish and always enjoyed polish foods, he requested pierogies, kapusta, lima bean soup, herring, and other stuff.  I do not enjoy eating any of it, but I have established a tolerance for lima beans from the soup and a small sampling of pierogies.  At what point do these traditions evolve to a new tradition?  I am all for doing the same thing on a special day once a year forever, but I’m less comfortable doing things that some really old and really dead person established.

I received a few very wonderful gifts this Christmas season.  I received none of them on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning from my family.  On Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I got a few things.  None of which I really wanted, and none of them that I can really turn into something useful.  I was given the following from Santa: 3 brown coats, 2 large shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of gloves, 1 headband, 1 box of goldfish, and 1 window ice scraper thing for the car.  I was expecting most of this, though you’ll note a lack of gift cards or cash on my list of items I’ve received.  In past, when I haven’t prepared a decent holiday wish list I receive gift cards or cash to enable me to supplement the lack of good gifts.  This year I got none, which is pretty frustrating to me.  I know that I’ve blogged about being frustrated about getting gift cards to too many different stores in the past, making it challenging to buy a larger ticket item, but getting none at all is certainly worse.

These 3 brown coats I got might have been my ‘large’ gift this year, but I do not enjoy walking around looking like a mud puddle.   My dark blue coat that I currently wear is quite sufficient for my warmth needs.  My parents, especially my dad, hates the blue liner that my current coat has that I wear as a spring coat.  In his eyes, it is too short for me.  Personally, I enjoy being able to access my pants pockets easily, and it is not very often I sit down on a wet surface where a covering for my the seat of my trousers may be necessary.  My belt doesn’t show when I wear this coat under normal circumstances, so it isn’t abnormally short on me or anything like that.  Kevin has opted to take one of the brown coats, leaving me with 2 to return to the store.

The 2 large shirts I got were large, which is OK if the shirts were made of 100% preshrunk cotton, but these were a blend, so they won’t shrink as much as I need to avoid the appearance of wearing a parachute.  One of then was orange, which is only my color in the fall, otherwise I look jaundice.  The pants were decent, I guess I’ve been needed a green pair of cargo pants for some time, but again I’ve always associated green pants with the forest, and RPI is not in the forest.  The other pair of pants were jeans, which were a tad bit light for my liking.  I dislike wearing bright blue pants (as most jeans appear), and the jeans I got were on the lighter side.  I’ll likely be looking for a darker pair of jeans.

I will be returning as much as possible to Kohl’s in exchange for store credit.  Its too bad Kohl’s didn’t sell computer stuff, or there wasn’t some place where I could trade in my Kohl’s gift card for a Best Buy gift card or something like that.

The whole Christmas season wasn’t a total bust.  Katie got me an Xbox 360 and some LED taplights.  I’m unsure what I enjoy more, the taplights or the Xbox.  On one hand, the Xbox provides for me to play video games such as Halo 3… but it does require a television or some type of monitor.  It also generates excessive amounts of heat.  LED taplights provide for me to see in the dark with a simple tapping motion… but they require batteries to operate.  There are also 3 of them in the box, and there was only 1 Xbox in the Microsoft box.  I think I can put all 4 items to good use.  I have a feeling Katie may regret buying me the console from time to time when I am playing it, but there are some Kt-friendly games available… like the Lego game that came with it.  Kevin M followed up and got me an extra controller and Halo 3, which is pretty useful since I have an Xbox to play it on.  Of course I am furious that Ms Katie spent so much money on me for the holidays, she should be saving up to buy her textbooks!  My brother Kevin still owes a few birthday and Christmas gifts (I estimate 2-3 years worth), so we’ll see how that pans out.

Alas, I am stuck with a few decisions to make.

1. Do I buy a monitor?  I have been questing for a monitor for over a month now that suites my needs in both cost and inputs, and I have yet to find anything good.  I’m not looking for the world’s highest quality display, but I want it to handle DVI as well as some video signal like component, composite, etc.
2. What do I buy Katie for her birthday? She is turning another year older soon, and I have 0 clue what to get her as usual.  I would appreciate any suggestions anyone could provide me, please contact me privately via AIM, Email, or my mobile.
3. Should I work at McDonalds?

As my brother once said “Second place is like first, just you didn’t win”.