Category: Academic

For the past few hours UNCC.edu and its team of servers has been inaccessible. I have a quiz due at some point tommorrow that I currently cant access. I’ve been paitiently waiting for these servers to return to service, but it hasn’t happened yet. It would appear that the primary problem is that the primary DNS server isn’t responding and the secondary is responding with “duh….”. Ah, technology at its finest. At the current time CPCC’s servers are all up and running without a problem, and have never had a complete system failure.
I guess this results from all of UNCC’s eggs being in the same library basket. The infrastructure of the Atkins library is responsible for sustaining all of the servers at UNCC. I constantly brag about how awesome distance education is, its “always” there, day or night, you can work on it when you feel like, or when you have time or whatever. Well… I think I just busted my own nuts on that one. With my luck, of course the first failure of Dist. Ed. ive experienced would be in a time of critical need, such as right now when i need to access the stupid Java quiz 🙁
Current Mood: Technologically Inferior / Beaten

Ever since last fall I have been trying to figure out if I have a preference for which building I have class in at UNCC, but to this point I have only formed one opinion… I HATE DENNY! Denny is hot, uncomfortable, has small desks and there is this odd odor that travels through the hallway (freshmen perhaps?). This morning I finally made my decision though, I love Atkins. There aren’t many classrooms in Atkins, but the ones that do exist there are awesome. The rooms are always kept at really nice temperatures and are pleasant. In addition, there is very little hallway noise because of the way the building is designed.
I should probably mention that Mr. Long’s class today actually was tolerable. The focus was on making websites user-friendly and focused on their purpose (not pimping the org or being a showcase of technology). It was a short lecture today, so I may have just not had enough to comment on ;-). Mr. Long appears to be very knowledgeable and focused on his topic, but I am a litle sensitive to omissions in Internet history (United States history I can cut down to about a paragraph and be happy though).
Before people outside of Niner Nation start thinking that Ive gone nuts, here is the building I am loving so much: http://facilities.uncc.edu/Building_Info/AtkinsLibrary.htm

I never thought that I would actually say this, but I am enjoying a liberal studies (LBST) course and a Political Science (POLS) course. They are the same course technically, its a LBST course in the field of political science, which I signed up for on a whim. I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into with the course, its web-based and its supposed to be a study of the Internet on other cultures. Unlike Mr. Long, Dr. Brown acknowledges that Dr. Postel existed and also feels about the same way as I do about him. I don’t think there is any better way for an intstructor to get my attention than to be slightly out of the ordinary like that and suprise me with her opinion.
At the moment I am not sure of my schedule for next semester, but as always I have the wildcard slot open for a course to slide into. Currently competing for that slot are 2 of the courses that Dr. Brown teaches, as well as Ceramics, Human Sexuality (the sociology version) and anything else that may spark my interest from the catalog anytime in the next few months (registration begins in November). If things go well this semester I might allow myself to take more than one wildcard course (i say wildcard, not elective, because a wildcard course for me doens’t have to be an elective, as long as I enjoy it). I don’t really want to stretch my time at UNCC out too much, but I would like to enjoy my time here, make some friends and just overall learn to become a responsible adult capable of living in the world.

Today I got a rude awakening in my ITIS2300 course, my instructor (who moved to COIT from COB), thinks too much like a person of business in the way he decides to cover the history of the Internet. I was expecting a lot more detail and a lot less “fluff” and inacuracy. The first thing that pissed me off was the inacurate description of the first octet of an IPv4 address. He stated that it is indicating a physical location. While its true that each of the networks is delegates to one of seven regional management organizations, as a general rule, the geography thing doesn’t apply. Also, he seemed totally oblivious to the classes (A – E) of IP addresses. The man states himself to be a long-time instructor of IT and the history of computing, but he is nothing but a sophist professing his “understanding” of IT. Next thing, (this will be no shock to those of you who know me well) there was no mention of the involvement of Jon Postel, Dave Crocker, or any of the founding fathers of the standardized Internet. I know I am somewhat of a Postelian nazi with my level of admiration of the Postelian way, but could Mr. Long not have mentioned him even once? Come on, the guy gave most of his life to the Internet, but instead we have to deal with this Tim Berners-Lee shmuck? So Lee developed HTTP, and HTML, what does it matter if he uses his inventions for really horrid thing like forcing conventions upon people?
Next issue with Mr. Long, he cusses like a sailer (well, he used to be one, but thats no excuse). I expect some profanity because of the fact that this is a University (and now that I think of it, had to deal with it some in High School with Mrs. Winders), but to make a point of including something vulgar in every sentance is not what I expected when entering that classroom. Maybe he left COB because he was kicked out for being “unprofessional”?
Something else that bothers me is how easily Mr. Long can just blow something off. I made a simple comment about the absence of Dr. Postel, and he felt the need to become defensive and in a quite rude mannor state that he didn’t have time to include everything. Wonder if hes ever seen an RFC.
ok, rant done… next fish!

In case anyone is curious about what is on my academic book list for the semester, here they are (being on the list doesn’t mean I will actually read it completely):
[PHIL3211]
Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle (Allen) [ISBN 0029004950]
Greek and Roman Philosophy After Arisitotle (Saunders) [ISBN 0684836432]
[ITIS2300]
Programming the Web Using XHTML and JavaScript [ISBN 0072560312]
Guide to the Web [ISBN0201745623]
Programming the Web Using VisualStudio.NET [ISBN 0072836180]
[ITCS1215]
Beginning Java2 SDK [ISBN 1890774294]
[MATH1165]
Discreet Mathematics [ISBN 0131176862]
[LBST2102]
NONE

In a few hours I am due back at UNCC for my first class of the semester. I am going to an orientation for one of my online courses at 8AM. It is supposed to be a library workshop as well as learn how to WebCT. I really wish I knew why my instrucor (Dr. Cheryl Brown) insisted on this when I went through the same thing for my English 1102 course and I have been using WebCT for like over a year now.
Having completed a 16 week course in 3 days last week I am feeling confident in my ability to take on the material that is about to be thrown at me, but the social nervousness makes up for any bit of confidence that I may have.
One year ago my life was a little different, I was enterering as a scared freshman, I didn’t know anyone and didn’t really have a need to, because I was just happy to be on the campus and not be scared of it. Hopefully this year I will avoid being an outcast by not acting like one. I have 9 hours of class on campus each week, as well as 6 hours web-based that I think will keep me from being bored for a while. Some of the material for the courses I have this semester I have already gone over in some of my other academic pursuits (fits of bordem?) which should make the load lighter to handle.
At the moment I think I am slightly pissed because I have nothing to do for some of my courses, even though I should. Mrs. Scott activated the course, but hasn’t turned on the assignments yet, so she is still dangling that ball of yarn in front of me.
I guess I am excited about my classes, I think I would be moreso if I didn’t have to be there at 8am, but I guess it wont kill me for 2 days.

It would appear that with just 22 days remaining, the fall semester is quickly approaching and my summer is about to end. I haven’t completed as many of my summer objectives as I would have liked to this year. I have several titles still on my summer reading list left that I would love to attempt, but with the summer leaving me quickly, I will likely just try to get a few priority items in, such as Hubert L Dreyfus’ On the Internet and the first chapter of each of my text books. Other tasks that I haven’t gotten to include the completion of the updates to GITI, completion of my personal website and a redesigning of my blog.
On the up side of things, I have most of my text books here already, and most of my supplies are ready. Those things already being done saves me a week of worry. One thing that remains to be resolved is the status of my digital pen for the semester. I have only three courses on campus, and I only anticipate really keeping notes for one of them. My philosophy course and my CS course probably won’t need me to keep a great number of notes, so it is unlikely that the pen will help much. However, my math course, discreet structures, will likely require about 2 to 5 pages per day as most math courses usually do. I have not really touched the pen (or a pen) for the entire summer, so I know I will have to work on my digital-friendly penmanship before I return. One consideration that has been noted on this is the existance of my Pocket PC, theoretically I could type all of my notes in Pocket Word, however, again the math course thing. Why carry 2 extra devices (PPC and its keyboard) when I could just as easily take out my digital pen and paper for such things in the other courses where I don’t take that many notes? I absolutely hate my handwriting most of the time, especially because im slow at taking notes if they are legible, plus the legibility goes down as I get tired in class (although, I dont expect this issue this semester, because I dont have accounting!). At the moment im still having issues with the Pocket PC keyboard because im not familiar with typing on it much.
I guess I am pretty much “ready” for the fall semester to begin, but I just am not ready for summer to end. What a conflict, eh?

It would appear that one Dr. Judith L. Presler decided to begin her summer vacation a little early. The PHIL3060 (Plato) exam and final meeting was scheduled for 3:30 on Thursday, May 12, 2005. At 3:45 it was confirmed that Dr. Presler had decided not to attend, so pretty much leave the exams with the secretary and exit quietly. I am soooo glad I got up in time for this today… Next time, im using FedEx.
Either way, the semester has been concluded and all is well.

I have only 3 more lectures left in my MWF classes, and only one left for my Thursday class (Plato). That means I have 3 hours left with each course.
I have changed a lot in some aspects since August 2004, but in some ways, not at all. I have rejoined some old hobbies, and found a few new ones. My preconceptions about most things academic have been shot down fully, but yet I have picked up a few new ideas about how to approach my overall academic life.
I am still about as non-social as I was in August, but at least now I am learning how to approach potential relationships (Life = Interpersonal Communications Lab?). Today I actually spoke to someone in my Microeconomics class, his name is Craig. We spoke for about 40 minutes after class about the class itself, as well as some of our common technical interests, philosophical interests, etc. Why do these people stay silent until the last few days of a course? That is sort of like last Thursday, I got the opportunity to talk to Austin finally. He is really cute, but also has a very complex mind philosophically. I have never seen someone digest Plato/Socrates the way he does. He gets passed the BS that goes on and extracts only the essential theory being passed, then he considers it and determines for himself whether it is valid or complete bullshit. Austin is more of an Aristilian thinker (like me), which means that he is more likely to relate to physical things that humans experience (we will for the moment disregard Plato’s theory of perception). In accounting I have Kent, Chuck and Vanessa, but they were compulsory, so they don’t really count (it is helpful for getting to know people when you are forced to know them). In Calculus there is Robert, we barely know each other, but we acknowledge each other and have a basic friendly relationship. Wow, that was fast, I covered everyone in a single paragraph. It is definately time for me to break out of my shell and start talking. Friends don’t just drop out of the sky, they take work and maintainaince.
I guess the point of this little entry is to state that I have made it through my first year of college and I survived. I have an entire summer ahead of me to teach myself how to be social, and maybe learn to be nice to the friends that I already have. Fall 2005 will approach very fast, when it is time, I intend to be ready this time.