Student Suicide

4:10 p.m.

This morning I got on campus and the first thing I heard was that a student committed suicide in the dorms.

I know that these things are not completely unheard of on campuses across the country but it's something that I don't normally expect on a small campus like Shawnee.

So all professors were given the warning email to look out for students who appear to be at risk for suicidal behaviors. Unfortunately, most students exhibit such behaviors - it's only the rare few who take the next step and take things into their own hands. It's nearly impossible to predict who will cross that line with the limited interaction of a class room.

When I walked across campus to go work out, I saw a few students pause by the flag pole near the president's office to put bouquet's of red carnations as if an offering upon an altar.

It got me thinking that there needs to be some kind of central point for the campus - a fountain or a square or a statue. Something where students gather around for pictures and the like.

Just a thought.

-T

The Bag that saved the world

From Ebay

Yes, for the fans of 24 out there - I've found the bag that Jack carries.

If any character has proven me correct in the philosophy that bags are for what ya find along the way - it's Jack.

Though not a huge fan of the series myself, I know that a few of my friends would kill for one of the bags and for only 14.00 bucks, I might get one myself.

This bag features:

Sleek, washable cotton canvas.
Roomy interior w/ three separate compartments
Brass hardware
Comfortable, adjustable shoulder strap, 2" wide
Measures 15"W x 11"H x 6"D
Covered by our money-back guarantee

Gear: Waterproof Notebook

From: Military.Com

RITE IN THE RAIN® TACTICAL MEMO BOOKSEnsure that your important field notes, reminders, hiking journal survive the elements! Waterproof non-disintegrating paper is housed in this 3.5" x 6" bound notebook. Equipped with 60 sheets (120 pages) imprinted with Universal Grid ¼" pattern. Use with pencil or the RIR All-Weather click pen. Useful measurement references printed on covers.

SPECS:• Bound with Field-Flex covers• Pages and binding glue guaranteed to stand up to the elements • 3.5" x 6" pages• Universal grid pattern: Ruled ¼" horizontal lines and ¼" Vertical dotted lines• 60 sheets; 120 pages• Cover and sheets are the same color• Wt: 8 oz.• Made in USA

$5.99 each.

Triangles, Triangles, Triangles

Another sketch from my notebooks made it over to the 101 Tales blog. This one fuses my interest in triangles and the construction of my own wizard's tower. :)

-T

Design Sketch: Medieval Scribe's Desk

A lot of my sketches end up being some kind of design or blueprint; it's just how I think.

When I got into my monastic phase in the SCA, I started to think about all the things that a Monk would have. What would his artifacts be? It's a question I ask of myself when I'm trying to understand or create a character; it's the archaeologist in me.

Here you see a simple box-table where the legs and central strut could either fold up inside the box-like top of the table and therefore make it easy to transport in the back of someone's truck or car.

The lectern floating above is a simple, two-sided lectern with iron candle sconces on either side to provide light. The triquetra-like hole in the side was more for function than decoration as I could hide supplies in there as needed.

Needless to say, I don't have a full-time carpentry staff at my disposal to create half of the things that I think up. When I first started learning from Bryian I had a notebook of ideas that I had to churn through to understand half of the concepts he was explaining.

Some of those designs were nightmarish to behold. Ok, a lot of those designs were just frightening from a construction stand-point, but I think that I've gotten better with my concepts over the years.

Notebook Search

I was looking through my old notebooks (about 60 of them) for some information and guess what I found?

This is a pic from a local newspaper up in Athens showing Bryian, my Blacksmith Master, at the forge at Robin's Crossing.

This is one of the best shots I've seen of him working. He always looked like he belonged in that forge.

Sometimes I miss weekends in the forge with techno-classical and coffee.

Pride: Follow up

Ok,

So I am sitting in my office and working on some journal stuff and I see that I have a new email from M. C.

He had written a 590 word response to the Chair concerning the email I sent to the Dept. Secretary.

Some fragments:

"Over the past sixteen years that I have worked at SSU, it is my understanding that the adjunct's contract does not require the adjunct faculty member to maintain office hours. "

"Further, students have contacted me and continue to contact me before class, during a class break or after class regarding their class attendance and other matters. In the past and in the present, I have received and continue to receive calls from students at my home. It has always been and continues to be my intention to assist the students in any way I can. "

"I would have appreciated it, if Mr. Riley would have directed the e-mail to me as the issue related to one of my students. Had not Sandi forwarded the e-mail to me, I would not have known of Mr. Riley's e-mail. On Wednesday, April 18, I visited my faculty mailboxes and did not receive any written notices regarding any student matters."

He's not slamming me completely, but since I'm the one that raised the question about his unavailability - I'm the focus.

I emailed the chair to remind him that M.C. is the same guy who had 198 voice mails (over 4 years worth) from students trying to get a hold of him.

Heh. I have a feeling that this is going to be interesting.

-Tom

Last night's dream

Here's the link to the weird dream last night about the Posideon's Star.

Pride

Get this:

Yesterday, I sent an email to the Dept. Secretary after two students came looking for M. C. (the guy I share the office with who had 198 voice mails). They’re financial aid is at risk of being suspended if they can’t speak with "C" about their attendance in his class.

As Adjunct aren’t required to hold office hours, he apparently doesn’t. I suggested that the students contact him before class as that’s probably the best time to track him down.

My email to the secretary was a note of concern that I had nothing to tell the students and they could lose their Aid between now and the next class.

Well apparently he got an email or some email (I think he got a copy of the email I sent the secretary) and left me a voice mail.

He wants to discuss:

My email
The reason I sent the email
“Certain assumptions” I had made about his activity in the office.

It sounds like he’s cruising for a shouting match.

Ahh, Pride. One of my favorite sins.

-Tom

p.s. Here's the email I sent our Secretary.

Subject: M.C.
Hi,

Two students have come by the office looking for Mr. C; wanting him to email Financial Aid or something. I told them that I don’t believe he holds office hours, but wanted to check with you incase he did change his mind.

I advised the students to seek him out during their class and ask him whatever they needed; but I hate to see them lose their Financial Aid because no one can track down C.

-Tom

On the Road to Recovery

Well, I'm mostly back up to snuff.

I had my morning lecture and I could breathe and all that, but towards the end my body temp shot up and I got a little dizzy so the fevers aren't completely out of my system.

I spent much of this weekend just sleeping - catching up from when I was up and down all night almost all of last week. I did some laundry and cleaned up around the house as well because while I was sick - nothing got done around the house.

The weather has turned dark and ugly here. I'm looking out of my window here at the office and can see some fairly dark clouds moving in apparently from the south - or at least from Kentucky. Like an invading army, the clouds are blotting the skies and sending people scrambling for their umbrellas.

Like a schmuck, I don't have a small umbrella for my bag yet so I'll probably be walking over to the gym, or back, in a down pour.

Oh well - it won't kill me.

Much.

-Tom

Wiccan Symbol Approved for VA Graves

From CNN

"This settlement has forced the Bush Administration into acknowledging that there are no second class religions in America, including among our nation's veterans," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the Wiccans in the lawsuit.

I find it interesting that there are currently 38 (with the Pentacle being the 38th) symbols that have been approved for grave markers of soldiers.

I've only seen symbols for Christianity and Judaism, but apparently there are symbols for Sufi and Buddhism too.

-Tom

Fevers and Frosties

Day 4 of the cold.

Now it's serious.

I've resorted to the my last-ditch efforts to fix myself.

Even though I'm allergic to milk, Frosties help when I'm to this stage because my throat is usually so sore from coughing that I need something to ease that and to start dropping my body's core temp.

What better way than to have a frosty? Hey, it made sense to my mom when I was a kid.

I'm heading off to work here in a few minutes. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to change my shirt; I had sweat completely through it. It was soaking wet.

So, no appetite for the third day and sweating my clothes off. Hrm... I'm not sure if this is the weight-loss program I wanted.

-T

Fever Weirdness

Ok...

Anyone who knows me has seen me make my "Freudian Prophecies". It became so common in the past few years that people actually gave it a name.

Sometimes, out of the blue, I'll say one thing but mean to say another; just like a Freudian Slip. However, those things that slip out often turn out to be true or to come true.

Either I'll say something like, "When your daughter comes to visit, you two can work on the house" and mean to say "When your friends come to visit, you can work on the house."

I know what I meant to say but it comes out weird. Sure enough, within a week of me telling that person (a friend named Misha), her daughter contacted her out of the blue and asked to visit for 2 weeks that summer - a few months away from my prediction.

Well, some other times, when I'm ill, I'll have even weirder premonitions.

When I get sick I get a fever; every time. When I get a fever I normally get dizzy and want to just sleep my way back to recovery. However, when I'm fighting the fever I go through random periods of chills and sweats while asleep. This makes for some very funky dreams.

Just like the Freudian Prophecies, the fevered dreams tend to come true too.

This past Sunday, while curled up and fighting the fever - I kept having a dream of blood-covered books. Granted, I was watching "The Stand" on scifi all day - so I didn't take it too seriously.

Em found me on Yahoo this morning and, knowing that I was in a fevered state yesterday, asked me what I saw. So I told her.

I didn't think much of it so I went to class and then left campus to grab some food and head home.

Now here's where it gets weird.

When I got home, my best friend, Chris, called me to see if I had heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech.

I hadn't.

The shootings started while I was in class and there was some initial footage of blood-splattered books since the shooter went into a lecture hall.

Freaky.

-T

Class Evaluations

So I finally got my class evals back from last quarter and WOW - talk about an ego boost.

Here are some of the comments:

1. He is funny and to the point. Teaches Very Clearly.
2. This instructor is one of the best that I have ever had. He is such a smart, witty, and interesting instructor. I've had this course at another college and it is like night and day. He actually teaches the material and involves the class to participate. I will be sad when this is over because it is one of the best courses I've had.
3. He kept my attention.
4. He can make a 101 a little interesting
5. Relates topics well.
6. Knows his stuff.
7. He is very good at putting the subject matter in terms we understand.
8. He keeps the lecture interesting.
9. Good sense of humor teaches very well.
10. He is very interesting to listen to.

So now I'm doing my happy dance - while sick. :)

The only area for me to improve in was that I need to slow down how fast I speak, but that's always been an area to work on.

Peanut

Bag

From Ebags,

I stumbled upon this site a while back and thought that I'd finally throw something on my blog about it.

As anyone who knows me can testify, I've a thing for bags.

"A bag is not for what you bring with you, but for what you find along the way."

An "adventuring" bag is almost always with me when I go anywhere. It has a little bit of everything needed for almost anything as seen in this post. The bag I'm currently using came from American Eagle Outfitters, much to my friend's surprise who swear that it's military surplus. It's ok but not exactly what I need so I'm continually in search of something to accompany me on my own Quests.

Over the years I've even designed a few and asked Emeleth to make them for me.

The woman can sew anything.

This is my first "adventuring" bag that I created as a means to hold all of my Monk Gear (tm). It was based off of Frodo's bag from LOTR: FOTR. It's almost duffle-sized and holds all of my robes and all the stuff that goes along with them when I want to go Monking About (tm *pending)

So,

When I found a whole site that sells nothing more than bags - I had to go digging.

Now if I can only find a site that sells telescoping walking sticks

Hrm...

From Ebags, Material:	600D Cordura
Size:	14" x 12" x 5"
Linear inches:	31"
Capacity:	840 cu. in.
Warranty:	Lifetime guarantee against defects in materials and workmanship

*Snicker* Monk Journal

From Etsy

Reminiscent of days gone by, this 5" x 7 1/2" x 2" thick book is sure to delight. 200 sheets (400 pages) are hand torn with a deckle edge and hand bound with geniune waxed sinew thread. The pages are 100 % cotton laid paper-just beautiful! The book closes with two heavy duty snaps hidden under the nickel buckle straps. This is the perfect book for the person who desires and needs a fine handcrafted book to house their reflections, ideas, dreams, goals or whatever you like to record on paper!

This size monk journal is the smallest seen in the last photo listed.

It's $100.00

And people buy this?

-Gah!

New Pen Source

Through my vast network of over-paid spies and informants, I've discovered a site for the journal-keeper or writer.

The people over at K. Schweizer, are producing hand-made, wooden fountain pens for a very nice price.

As soon as payday comes around I'm going to lay my grubby book-beaters on one...or two.

-Tom

Changing Seasons

This was the scene out of my office window on Monday.

Notice the sunny skies, the wonderful green grass and the cotton-ball clouds.

All the people on campus were in shorts and it was just an awesome day.

Then, as the week went on - the weather began to get colder and more gray and the shorts I had pulled out of my closet were stuck back for another week or so.

Now, this is today. It's nearly 6 p.m. and the sky is almost blurred with snow.

It's 30-something degrees out and a 60% chance of snow tonight.

Snow... on Easter.

Yeap - Mother nature is pissed and wants her fertility festival back from the Christians.

Anyway - back to laundry.

-T

Da Roof

Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Office
Mood: Hate the cold. Love the Chai. (Luuuuuv the chai)

Well, yesterday was my first sort-of break from playing with the roof. With the cold snap that came out of no where - my sinuses decided to run amok and turn my stomach sour. Yes, I do hate it when that happens. Mother nature must have a serious case of ADD.

Listen lady. Keep it spring for 3 months, -then- summer, and... wait for it...FALL... and then you can take a break again and let it be winter for a while. Stay on task woman!

Well, Tuesday the roofing was finished and we put up "rolled roofing" rather than shingles. Much easier to put up and a lot lighter on the frame. My grandfather said that it will do everything it needs to do for the next ten years so I shouldn't have to worry about it.

Now we're putting on the side-walls and the guttering. We have three of the sidewall pannels up and have to wait a while on the others because the guttering needs to go up first so it can be hidden from the inside.

So, the remainder of the project includes:

1. Finish the gutters
2. Move some of the larger stone blocks out from behind the car port
3. Finish the wall pannels & lattice inserts
4. Dig the drainage ditch along the back wall
5. Grade the back edge to get rid of some of the mud and excess dirt
6. Cover the ground with gravel
7. Paint the enterior.
8. (eventually) hang new lights inside the Port

So, I've still got some work to be done and hopefully it will warm up so I can do it.

-T

New Feature

I've added a new feature on the menu to the left that has clips from youtube. It shouldn't slow down the load speed of the page and is kinda neat.

-Tom

New design

I'm trying to get a new design for the blog to have this as the mast-head, but it's not working out so well as I would hope.

Yes, you have to click on the image above to see the real size. Since the blog program shrinks images to fit, this looks a little fuzzy.

-Tom