Road Scholarship

The term in Westminster is winding down, about 4 weeks to go.  I put in a list of classes I'd like to teach, the chair said that she'd see what she could do.

The class in Harrisburg is getting close to halfway.

Got a call from one of the schools in York to come up and do a teaching demo next month.

The gig w/ the former co-worker never got off the ground.  From the outside vantage point, it looked like communication was an issue, there were personnel problems, and they wanted real course re-writes, not just a re-formatting  from one on line presentation platform to another.  And the former co-worker is no longer with that company.

If I could get 4 to 5 classes going, life would be relatively comfy!!

Cain in 2012...

...because I'm racist.

Headmistress Rocks!

Go.  Read.  Now!!

a nice hot cup of KisPian TEA

Yesterday's Drive to Work...

...no comment necessary, except to say that this is PA 216 between Red Lion and I-83.

(Click == Bigger)

Looking West-ish.  Double the time, half again the miles.

Sigh.

One Up, One Down...

Got into a bit of a snit about the contract job, and vented to the former co-worked who put me on to it.  She e-mailed back a detailed fisking of my e-mail, which filled in a number of gaps that I felt needed filling.  I hesitated to respond to it, because I wasn't sure she would get an accurate 'sense' of what I was trying to say.  (That is on me, not her, by the way.)  Anyhow, she e-mailed me this morning, saying that since she hadn't heard from me, she felt it necessary to hand my part off to someone else.  Sad, but not unreasonable on her part.

This was, however, offset by an offer to teach a class at another school, starting in October.  Which I will do.

And, the door is still open on the contracting gig, also starting in October.  I'll give her a call today.

Reading List

I have no use for NPR, but Leeann says: "To follow the NPR (US National Public Radio) meme, copy this list, putting in Bold those you have read."

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut (Welcome To The Monkehouse was my favorite of his.)
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

I read tons of SF from the time I could read, until my early 30's. It seemed to get away from SF, and into more Sword & Sorcery, and franchise books (Start Trek, Star Wars). I've revived my interest in comics, mostly the oversize ones, and most of those Batman. The Watchmen was phenominal.

Even Better!

The school had an adjunct disappear (sort of) and I've been asked to pick up a second class - this one is 3-D modeling w/ AutoCAD, as opposed to the original Engineering Drawing.

Twice the fun, twice the $$!!

Bonus - they're all on the same nights, so the relatively expensive trip from here to there and back again will be much more cost effective!!

Yay!

This is going to leave a mark...

By way of Coalition of the Swilling:

http://coalitionoftheswilling.net/?p=15472

Direct link here: http://media.trb.com/media/acrobat/2011-08/190226440-05140902.pdf

As Bill Cosby (and others) have counseled: "...begin with getting a high school education, not having children until(you are)  twenty-one and married, working hard at any job, and being good parents".

I'm beinning to think that we, as a country, have jumped the shark.

Good News...

...the interview paid off. I am the shiniest new adjunct at my new school. There are two meetings I need to attend before class starts in September, and I have to re-wrap my head around 3D CAD modeling and all of the engineering stuff I soaked up for 20 years.

It's a newish facility, the oldest building is 20 years old. Beautiful campus. My new boss seems to be a nifty person, we seem to have hit it off. I'm teaching one section, two evenings a week for 15 weeks. From what I understand, the $$ is *way* better than adjunct pay at the last place I taught.

In other good news, I have a contract course editing gig starting in a couple of weeks as well. If the first go round is good, then I'll have two courses per month to edit for a while, which means I should be able to keep body & soul together.

Deo gratias!!

Trabajo

Interview today, for an adjunct position. Seemed to go well. Next step is the ref check, which should go OK.

I also have a contract gig coming up in a couple of weeks, so there's that.

Prayer in any denomination helps and is appreciated.

English Glitch

In the previous post, I have run into what I think is an odd thing about the tenses of English. Rather, what we have doesn't support a small but necessary (I think) form of usage.

e.g., "I knew someone in the past. He was Japanese." He was Japanese when I met him. and I presume that he still is. Why wouldn't he be??

If I said "I dated the plumber's niece, whom I met through my best friend. They are cousins. We were good friends, it was the best of times...", I think that the tense structure gets all foobared with that construction. On the other hand, saying that "..they were cousins..." seems to imply that they may not be cousins anymore. Which is unlikely.

You see my problem??

"When is Leelu not in trouble?" (Korben Dallas)

Yes, I know it's "mis-spelled"...

...not really.

A friend of mine replied to an e-mail of mine recently, telling me that "leelu" is not how it's spelled in the production credits for "The Fifth Element". He's right. But, with apologies to Mr. Dallas...

Back when I was in high school (yes, the earth had cooled, plants had begun to grow...) I dated the plumber's niece, whom I met through my best friend. They were (and presumably still are) cousins. She lived about 35 miles west of me, in an area that, back then, hadn't succumbed to development - yet. They lived at the turn of the road, about 1/2 mile from the freeway. As we started spending more time together, I started spending nights in the guest room. (Really.) I was trying to be a Good Catholic Boy, and to make matters worse, her aunt and uncle actually trusted us. What are you gonna do? We didn't act on impulse. OTOH, we did spend a goodly amount of time kissing.

Her grandparents had a ranch a few miles down the road. I spent a Christmas or two there, and many a summer afternoon around the BBQ. It was the most consistent time I had ever spent in a "normal" family environment - parents (OK, uncle and aunt) grandparents, and kids (her and I). There was a lot of teasing ind give and take. Grandpa would call me a "mackerel-snapper", I would call him a "low-life Sinn Feiner", or "Orangeman". It was fun. Protestant vs Catholic. A traditional and time-honored game.

In any case, for reasons I do not know, he hung the nickname "leelu" on me. In my mind, that's how it was spelled. After we went our separate ways, I forgot about the name. Until, of course, when Korben Dallas asked the Fifth Element for a shorter version of her name, and she replied "Leeloo".

ROTFLMFAO.

So, when I started posting, I of course used the name, but in the spelling I liked. It was always how I thought of it.

And, Mr. Dallas *is* right, regardless of the spelling.

Anti-Social Media

To tell the truth, I was on Facebook for a couple of months. I don't know why, except Preacher at my old job said I should try it. I got two pings from old high school buddies, whom I hadn't seen since high school, and a bunch of invites to friend my students, and play Mafia Wars.

I pretty much ignored it, until Wiley came out with this cartoon:



...which, I think, pretty much says it all. I closed my account, and shall not return.

Click on the post title to read Matt Labash's take.

I agree whole-heartedly.

Closure

It seems that I'm correct in my assessment of what's happening at school. They are doing their best to thin the herd of full-time instructors, and replace them with part-timers (adjuncts), who work for much less $$.

I got fired about 2 months ago, and it was my own stupid fault. We were on a field trip to a computer vendor show in DC. It was light on content, I was bored, and there was a bar and grille next door, so I ducked out and had a beer. Like I had done at many a vendor conference before. Most expensive beer of my life. Drinking at any school function is verboten, and I was told that one of the students "complained", and there I went.

In a recent job interview, I was asked what I liked most about the job. My answer was "graduation". It is heartwarming and rewarding to see the students graduate. For many of the families there, this is the first person ever to receive a college degree. And it, temporarily, almost makes up for the chintzy wages.

The I was asked what the worst part of the job was - my answer was how instructors are evaluated on performance. Instructors are measured on two main things: retention, and student success. These are two things that no instructor ever really has any direct control over. In a theoretical environment where incoming students could demonstrate basic competency in the "Three Rs", this would be a sane and valid measure of instructor performance. Sadly, that often isn't the case here in the Baltimore area. Students get dropped, don't turn in any work, so retention and student success numbers are low.

The good news for me is, I'm more relaxed than I have been in about 6 years, my seemingly chronic gastrointestinal troubles have cleared up, and I'm sleeping much better.

I need to say this in fairness: it is quite possible to get a good, solid education there. As I've told my students many times, you need to show up, do the work, and turn the work in. It isn't rocket science - I worked around that for many years, and that ain't it.

1950's

Rodger, TRKOF has a nifty list posted about all the things we did as kids back then. (Click on the post title).

I had to add the following:

Pretty much all of the above (fireflies when we visited the farm in Illinois).

We collected bottle caps and used the to play army, along with the green army guys (Toy Story) and the plastic military hardware that came with the set. Coke & Pepsi were the 'good guys' everything else was the bad guys.

Best trouble I ever got into was after a big rain, the neighbor's back yard at the end of the alley was flooded, and my best friend and I spent an afternoon pushing the un-cemented cinder blocks into the water, just to hear the 'sploosh'!

As I think of it, no stickball, either

End of Year

Well, then.

The last 2 1/2 weeks have been interesting, to say the least. Happy School Services (think "HAL" and "IBM" - got it?) has gone and fired the dean. Several of us appear to be next on the chopping block.

Had a good Christmas, in spite... talked with the Kiddo. Read replies to my Christmas e-mail to friends (I saved reading them until Christmas day.) Had a broiled rib eye and smashed potatoes for dinner, and watched "The Holiday". Happily wasted time on "The Dresden Files". Yesterday, I watched "The Ice Harvest", which is now one of my favorite Christmas movies.

So, darkness became a theme. In addition to a noir (pronounced "nwah", damnit!) dark TV series and an even darker film, I found this place: a sea of lead, a sky of slate , in particular, this post: Abandoned on Everest Dark and graphic. Raises ethical, moral and human issues that those of us who are warm, dry and reasonably well fed need not contemplate. Or, do we? Read the comments, all 200+.

So, that is where I am this evening, as 2011 approaches from the East.

It will be interesting. Happy New Year to you all.

Important Info...

Created by Oatmeal

...that is all.

Mom said...

...some jokes are not to be missed.

"Frog horde forces Greece to close northern highway for 2 hours after drivers skid off road"

Damned French tourists!

This is Depressing...

...the whole Skippy Gates thing, I mean.

Not his predicament, tho. Long ago, in a traffic school class far away, we were advised by the police officer/instructor that the first thing we should do when stopped is "pass the attitude test". This has always made excellent sense to me, mainly because a) said "stopper" can arrest me, and b) he or she has a gun they are allowed to use to do a).

It's a no brainer.

Later in my life, my house was burgled. I came home, and after dealing with the LEOs, I wandered out to the back yard. An officer who was in the supermarket parking lot behind my house saw me, and firmly but politely asked me to come over and show some ID. My ID was in the house, and I told him so, and said that yes, it was my house. We agreed that I would go in and get said ID, and show it to him. I did, and it was all good.

Why would I want to get arrested and/or shot on my own property by someone who was ostensibly trying to protect aid property? For me. Who hadn't personally asked him!

Skippy is an idiot. OK, he's a Harvard Prof, which means he probably has a PhD.

He's still an idiot. If we define "idiot" as one who behaves in such a manner to endanger their own well being and that of those around them, for no apparently good reason.

But that's not what is depressing. I have a friend at work, Mr. T, who, based on his Facebook posts, seems to think that Gates was treated the way he was because he is black. (As is, I might mention, my friend. This is not mentioned trivially...) And yes, my friend voted for the big "o", too (lowercase intentional).

So, in my book, he's 0 for 2 in the brainwashed department. STG, I don't care that our Commander-in-Chief is a person of color. I really don't. On the other hand, I don't trust the skinny little weasel as far as I could throw him. He seems to be evidencing symptoms of what we might call being a "Strawberry Oreo". Black on the outside, Red on the inside.

Anywho, now my friend is on the side of Skippy. Mr T. is a very intelligent young man. But, brainwashed, it appears. (I think he reads Time magazine, the WaPo and HuffPo). He asserted that Skippy was handcuffed inside his house. According to the police report, not so:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

So, methinks it boils down to a division along racial lines. Which is truly sad. Because there is obviously a lot of "filtering" going on, still. By that I mean, if a white office arrests a (loud) black man/woman, the officer is obviously "racist". Even though said officer has been picked by his (black) boss to lead the political correctness..., erm, sensitivity training for the precinct. And, you'll notice that this terribly racist officer got Skippy his cane, and then waited until the maintenance guy could get on site and get Skippy's door locked.

What a flaming racist.!!

Of course, on my side of the fence, I'm dealing with my own upbringing, too. I still find myself hearing in my head the crap that I learned from adults around me (not Mom or Grampa G... they would't tolerate insulting words about anyone). So I hear the lie run by, and then tell myself, let's watch and see who this person/these people really are. So then I stop and see what I see. Most times, people are basically decent. I suspect, like me, they want to have a warm, safe place for themselves and their loved ones. And, yeah, there are some jerks out there. I tend to avoid them whenever possible, stand up to them when I need to. But it's all on a case by case basis. The one difference we all have in common is that we're all different.

It seems to me that, given the persistence of knee-jerking, that the heroic and historic efforts of Dr. King and Ms. Parks, to name only two, have been grossly wasted. Sort of like feminism, it all seemed about learning to treat each other with respect. Apparently, we still don't get it.

Now, it appears to be just about scoring racial and political points and getting "mine".

UPDATE:

Then, there's this at Power Line

Back Under the Knife

I spent about an hour or so under the knife, again. New surgeon, new hospital (more, later).

Once again, in pre-op, I found myself thinking of my time with Gramma G. I think what makes that time so special to me is that it was unconditional. I suppose she knew, or at least suspected, that she was dying during my time with her. If so, she never seemed to show me that she was afraid. It seemed to me that she had nothing else to do when she shared her time with me. I'm sure that her dying was a great strain to my mom and Grampa G, so they were, of course, distracted.

After she passed on, my life changed. Grampa G would take off for a few months to spend time with his other children in Arizona and Illinois. When he was gone, I would stay overnight at my best friend's house, and during the summers,stay during the day as well. This was because my mom worked the night shift at the hospital.

Anyway, I know where my "happy place" is. Thanks, Gramma