New Look

Well,

Something happened with the template on my old blog. I logged into it this morning and it was completely messed up. Apparently, some of the code that it was accessing (the graphic elements) had been deleted and the blog did not now how to process the information without the proper code in place.

So, after a quick search of the web for a new template, I decided to go with something green for the time being.

All my links are gone but I'll get them back up between now and the weekend.

C'est la vie virtual!
-T

Once more. I let them live

From "That Student"

While in class and after I returned the research papers, "That Student" said that I should have warned them (the class) that Computers would be required for the research paper.

After trying to blame everyone on campus for her inability to complete a simple, five-page research paper, she tried to foist the responsibility on me for not alerting her to the need to be able to use computers. Now, we're not talking about using some advanced Statistics Program, just your average MS Word / Excel stuff.

Argh!

Oh well, only a few more classes to go and she'll no longer be my problem. :)

I couldn't make this stuff up

Once more, an email from "That Student".

Can I take this test next week to give me more time to find out stuff or just take it tomorrow night?

I was left confused because she emailed me the notes and never put what chapters they are for.

What the HELL?

(more later)

GAH! Follow-up

This was the last line in an email I just received from "That Student".

"Please pass me in both of your classes because I depend on college for my education and the money to make ends meet in life!"

My official response:

Ms. XXX,

Let me make this perfectly clear: I will not pass you or fail you. You will succeed or fail based on your performance in class and for no other reason.

-Tom.

STAB IT. BURN IT. BURY IT. KILL IT.

GAH!

Although I am a firm believer that people should always attempt to educate themselves, I have must state that I am TIRED of ignorant people wasting my time.

It is one thing for someone to simply not be aware of a topic, and need some assistance to grasp the concept; that's what teachers are for.

Some people have difficulty grasping concepts and need additional help to make the connections that others seem to make more easily; that is what tutors are for.

It is another thing entirely for someone to:

• A) Not know something,
• B) Refuse to put forth the effort to learn it.
• C) Fail to apply it.
• D) Fabricate reasons why they don't / can't learn.
  
• E) Expect you to pass them because "they're just not getting it".

I believe that this all stems from the idea "no child left behind". I understand that children should not be left behind and perpetually set back in grade until you're left with an eighteen year old adult with the reading skills of a fourth-grader. Once you remove the ramifications of not-studying, applying your knowledge, etc. (they can't fail me), why should the child put forth any effort at all?

One of my students, a non-traditional student who is apparently a grandmother, believes that college should be just like the school where her grand babies go. If she doesn't pass an exam, she wants to re-take it, over and over again, until she does. Apparently this is a common technique in the public school system (though I don't know what grade) where her grandchild attends. She, the non-trad student (AKA "THAT student"), assumes that all education systems are like this and that if she just continually walks around clueless that she'll get passed because people are tired of looking at her.

Here's the kicker, she's on something called "Financial Aid Probation". Essentially, she has failed so many times previously, that the University (or the State / Fed) is going to suspend her Financial Aid unless she can pull her grades up. I agree with the idea that people who aren't getting the grades shouldn't be able to pull down thousands and thousands of dollars (and most likely not paying them back) - potentially removing funding from those people who -are- making the grade. So this student is faced with a challenge, pass your classes or loose your money.

She is in both my Intro to Sociology and my Intro to Criminology course. It turns out that she was in my Intro to Psychology course last spring (and failed - but only by 5 points). This term she is failing again - not scoring higher than 50% on any of her exams and once she scored 34% OUT OF 100%.

Normally, I would have written her off as an Ashley and let her fail without a second thought. Since she is a non-trad (a category of students who usually out-perform my other students), I tried to give her a bit more attention hoping that she would be like my other non-trad students and really contribute to the class.

NOPE.

She realizes that she's failing and she's continually panicking about it. I usually receive between three to four emails from her at a time; usually within the scope of 10 minutes. They all say about the same thing, usually with more and more panic in her tone each time. She has probably accessed every help desk, tutor and resource at the university to help her improve her grades, but the reality is that she just doesn't have the academic tools to be in college at this time.

It's no great failure to say that a person is not ready...yet. Usually it's a matter of intellectual focus rather than sheer brain power, but a University should not be used as an alternative form of Unemployment / Welfare. A university is a place of learning, a sanctuary for academic achievement (cue monastic chants in the background with a subtle mix of "Georgetown" from St. Elmo's Fire), and most importantly a means to change your life.

Not everyone is ready to change how they think about the world or their place in it. Until they are ready, they should not be at College.

Lawful Evil

An interesting sight

Sunday was one of those days that really reminded me that the seasons have changed from Summer to Fall.

There wasn't much scheduled for the day - I had the idea of doing some house work and such but then Josh wanted to head out to a Sorghum festival. It was a quick drive out to the county and over a rattling wooden bridge. There wasn't much there, but it was fun to get out of the house for a while and get away from some tests that I needed to post.


It was interesting to watch the old machines squeeze the juices out of the Sorghum cane and the huge cooking trough. I saw the very same set up when I had to give out information at a similar sorghum festival in Lawrence County (around Ironton) back when I worked for LCCAO. I assume that there are only so many ways to turn the cane juice into some form of potable sugars so once it was figured out the basic design / system was spread from county to county.

Afterward, we were driving up to the store and I saw a huge string of people along side the road. I'm not sure what was the occasion, but for some reason there was a huge campaign to announce that "Abortion Kills".

I wasn't aware of any national awareness campaign for that Sunday, but there were almost four blocks of people shouting to get people's attention as they drove by. I've never understood the concept of the 'string of people with signs' campaign. Does it draw any more attention to an issue? Are they hoping that someone will see the validity of their sign and say to themselves, "Ya know, they're right," and change their lives accordingly because four blocks of people held up signs?

All I can see as the aim to such a stunt is to get media attention. An image like this is perfect for a local newspaper. It gets the public's attention, granted, but does it do anything with it once they have it?

Kidney Woes

Cranberry Juice Consumed: *twitch* *gack*
Antibiotics Consumed: God bless cipro
Time spent in a hot bath: 2.5 hours
Finally being able to move (or just lay there)
without wincing in pain?: Since 3 p.m. yesterday




Well, thanks to the gods of Cipro, I think I'm out of the woods. Yesterday afternoon I was pounding cranberry juice (*gack* *twitch*) and toasting a bag of rice in my microwave (to use as a heating pad) so often I was certain that it would somehow turn into popcorn - but the pain would not let up. The only way I was able to actually think was to sit in a scalding-hot bath. As soon as the heat hit the right side of my lower back - the pain would ease. It was fine so long as I laid in there and didn't move much.


But then I got a delivery of antibiotics, Cipro. The family keeps a stock of this stuff on hand and when word went out that I might have a stone, they were quick to hand it over. They were also quick to tell me how many of them had also passed stones in their lives and how it's sort of a "family" medical condition. So what do I have to look forward to in my life? Kidney Stones, Diabetes, Alzheimers, and possible some form of Cancer.

Joy.

After about twenty minutes of taking the Cipro, I was laying down on the couch since I had finally found a position that didn't hurt. Then I realized that I was getting more and more sleepy and eventually passed out. At some point, though I was not really awake for this, I got up and went to the bathroom and heard a weird 'clink'. I stared down into the bowl to find that a pebble about the size of a BB was in the bottom. Not saying that I have a high threshold for pain, but my first thought was that there was no way in hell that came out of me without me feeling it. Then again, I had taken about three kinds of pain-killers before I passed out so I was still a bit groggy.

The family doc said that I should collect it since if the pain returns there may be more stones and they would need to examine the last one to figure out what was causing them. One of the more curious questions that I had for the doc was how could this have happened. Most kidney stones are formed by deposits of calcium and I'm not really what you would call a milk-drinker. There is, however, some connection between drinking sodas like Mountain Dew.

Yeah - there was a moment of silence when I was on the phone with her.

So I guess I'm reduced to water, some juice and coffee for a while.

Ugh.

Just kill me now

This morning at 6 am I woke up with a pain in my right side, in my back. At first I thought that it was s pulled muscle do I grabbed Josh's msgic back massager and tried to fix it. As soon as I started the machine I could tell that something was wrong. There was an odd sensation that radiated around from the small of my back and down to my groin. For about three hours I tried to sleep or find some comfortable spot but noting worked.



Josh got up around 9 and I asked him to take me down to the campus clinic to have them look at me. Yes, the pain was serious enough that I was willing to ask for help.

They confirmed the diagnosis that I probably have a kidney stone. The hospital would be able to confirm it with a batch of tests (about 5k from what we dug around to find out) but the treatment was basically to just flush it out.

So since Josh had to stay on campus for classes, I asked Will to take me home where I promptly threw up (again) as soon as we were in front of the house. I tried to put my mind out of the pain but that didn't work - I couldn't think straight for that.

That's when Josh and Will's idea set in. Taking a hot bath might help the muscle spasms. With Will on the couch and me yelling to him from the bathroom we continued the conversation for a few minutes and it was like someone threw a switch. The pain was gone. So long as the water was hot, there was no pain.

The main problem with kidney stones is that everyone wants to ask you if you've been pissing regularly. I had been, but not too often. I've been drinking water all day and I would get the urge to take a leek but nothing would happen. Pulling the old Boyscout Trick of standing in a hot shower or putting your hand in warm water, however, assisted things along so it's not that I'm blocked.

After sending up the flag to everyone I could think of - I got some of last night's chili on my stomach so that will hopefully help with the nausia. (My chili is mild so it's not like I'm eating fire. Will has headed off for a while and I've gotten some antibiotics in me to help with any future possibility of a kidney infection.

Otherwise, I'm typing with one hand, laying face down on the couch and trying to get my back to stop hurting.

ugh.

someone just kill me.

Garlic Poisoning

Anyone who has ever known me for some length of time knows that I'm allergic to garlic to some degree.

Now I'm not sure how I'm able to eat some foods with garlic (Barbara's Magic Garlic) and be fine and then I can have a french fry with garlic-laden salt and I'm sick to the world for a day.



Last night I was sick to death because of garlic. I woke up around six a.m. with terrible stomach cramps. I couldn't roll over, could barely move and the pain was constant. After trying to rid myself of the pain in anyway I could think of (I'll spare you the details) I hit the net to see if there was anything that could have caused all of the upset.

Logging onto Arby's website, I found that their curly fries contain a heavy amount of garlic-flavoring in their salt. So this explained why I was hugging a bucket on the toilet for about an hour.

Once I discovered that garlic was the culprit - at first I didn't think that it was since normally I'm sick within 30 minutes of eating it - I went to the kitchen and gobbled down some peanut butter sandwiches. Don't ask me why but for some reason, peanut butter kills the garlic poisoning within a half-hour at most.

So...

For the record: Garlic Poisoning Bad. Arby's fries taste good but are also Bad.

Grr.

Curse this mortal existence!

How I spent my Labor Day

... A Pictorial Essay.






Notice that the man in the gray shirt was present in the last picture. He, my father, still lives.

And people say that I'm not filled with compassion.

I'm positively a font of human kindness.

This is where you belong...

Good: Having someone that I went to High School tell me that I'm a good Professor.
Evil: McAngus Bacon Cheddar Burger.

Since the first day of classes, I was a bit uncomfortable about having someone in my class that I knew personally. This is something that is never encouraged due to all the issues of favoritism that could come up. However, since I hadn't spoken to that person in nearly seventeen years, I did not think it that much of a problem; at least professionally speaking.

My style of teaching is very much driven by interaction with the students. I want them to give me their feedback, their thoughts on a particular topic. I constantly ask them to tell me what they think on various issues that we're discussing hoping that they'll understand the topic more because it's relevant to their own lives. When it comes to someone that I've grown up with - this could be possibly a problem. It's easy for a student to say that they grew up with a person who has done "something" or knew of someone who had "something else" happen to them if they don't know the professor. They're a fairly anonymous face in the crowd as far as that goes. However, when you know that person for years, you know their family - know their history and could easily put two and two together to create a more complete picture of their own childhood.

It goes both ways. I continually use examples from my own childhood to illustrate points in class. Usually the students are nearly fifteen years younger than I am so there's no frame of reference for them. When there's someone in the class who knew me growing up - it's like revealing part of your life to them on a more personal basis. They -knew- what you were like growing up, or knew what kind of kid you were, etc.

Well, all of this was what had been crawling through my head for the past week or so with one student in particular.

Stella is a woman that I met in middle school, I believe. We grew up together having mutual friends but not mutual interests. In the broadest sense of how I felt about her - she was nice. This is a huge difference to the majority of the people I grew up with who I could classify as "will be destroyed when my army of evil robots arrive" or not-nice.

She found me after class last night and wanted to touch base since we've only briefly spoken a word or two within the context of the lecture. The first thing that she said blew me away.

"This is where you belong. You were -meant- to be a professor."

I couldn't stop grinning.

She had heard stories from her co-workers as to how I taught and what kind of professor I was, but she said that she couldn't imagine me as being "that Riley". After three weeks had passed, she was more than impressed.

I don't think my feet touched the ground all the way to the parking lot.

Even now as I type this, I'm grinning once more.

It's good to know that others feel the same way about your career choice. I'm glad that I'm no longer working for the City / Count / State any more. I think that if I had continued working with them I would continue to be an angry, unhealthy person. Here, I can use my skills for what they were meant for.

Notice, I did not say "Use my powers for good".

Change happens slowly.