Repetition is the key to victory

I keep thinking: there are so many things I need to do each day. Yet, somehow I either forget or choose not to do quite a lot of them. Here's some of the things I need to do more of...

1. Eating
I don't even come close to eating as much as I should. Depending on what I'm doing at work and when I get up, usually my first meal of the day is somewhere around 5pm. Now last time I checked, that's not exactly healthy. Maybe if I wasn't an idiot and spent my nights not sleeping until midnight I'd have an easier time getting up in the morning...

2. Running
I've started playing more soccer and broomball, but for some reason I still think I should be running more than I currently am. Skiing will take its place once there's enough snow, but until then I need to make sure I'm up and moving more often.

3. Sleeping
Speaking of sleeping, that should happen more often as well. I get somewhere between 5-8 hours a night, but I'd like it if that margin was closer to 7-9... Maybe I'll decide that midnight isn't the time to go to bed sometime in the near future.

4. Getting out and doing things
Sure I socialize with people on my floor, but I should get off campus more often and do things with friends. It doesn't even have to be anything huge, but something fun that gets us all together. Bowling seems like a good idea, but last time I organized that I accidentally scheduled us for league night... Whoops.

I guess that's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure there's more to be done. I'll just have to find it!

Emergence

Its been a while since I was last on here... I think its been a mix of laziness, business, and not really having the urge to write anything. But I know that I'll come back to it. Its a fun place to just write what I think and give myself a good chance to just sit back and reflect on what I've really been up to.

A lot has gone on since the new school year started. I'm down in Nerland Hall for the year, and honestly its going pretty well. My roommate Matt is pretty cool, Marx and Sam are my neighbors, Ty is right down the hall, and the dorm is really close to both food and parking. How much better could it get? Well... Maybe if the lower floors didn't smell like body odor every once in a while that would be cool, but at least my floor smells decent. I also really like the setup of my room. As long as I don't have a lot of physical writing, I have a great setup for both gaming and working on homework.

My classes are starting to go into full swing as well, but they're a little sub-par for the most part. I just switched into the Network and Systems Administration degree from Computer Science, so I'm taking the basics for that degree, but that's the problem. They're basics. So basic it hurts. Right now I'm in Server Operating Systems and Introduction to Network Administration, but I feel like I'm just drifting along through them. I'm pretty sure that most, if not all, of the other students have never worked in a server or IT environment at all. I'm in one every day. I hear everyone "Oooooooh" and "Aaahhhhh" at things like the OSI layers and basic networking while I sit there and recite it to myself from memory. Its gotten to the point where I'm 2 weeks ahead in BOTH of those classes just for the fact that I have nothing to do in those classes other than show up and do homework because the lecture is just a rambling history lesson. A history I experienced firsthand. Which is whatever, and it might become interesting later on, so I continue to show up and be productive while I'm there.

Socially, everything is great. I don't have a lot of free time during the day with me working 32 hours a week and taking 12 credits, but when I do my friends are great. I've had a lot of fun just sitting around and doing nothing but watch Adventure Time and hanging out in Marx's room (since I'm pretty sure its the new party room).

But even with that being said, I have a lot of fun at work. For the 5 weeks or so I've been out and about away from the Helpdesk working on computers at one of our customer locations. Plus, I really enjoy working. My coworkers are great, my hours are great, the work is great. I really have nothing I could complain about. The only thing I could possibly even try to complain about is the fact that I dress up all professional and whatnot everyday so I can't dress like a bum, but I think that's just part of the deal. Plus, its not even a real complaint. Why should I care if I force myself to dress nice? I even got a personalized nametag and jacket! How cool is that?

The best part of the last month though was my trip yesterday to the Eva Creek Wind Project that GVEA has been putting together for the last while. About 100 miles south of Fairbanks or so they've put up 12 wind turbines and I was lucky enough to get on the tour to go see them! Justina came along with me and it was one of the coolest things I've seen in quite a long time. 

Nostalgia

I've realized that I have this natural instinct to attach music to certain feelings, events, and people. It's never really intentional, but they always stick and I have such an eclectic music taste that I never really get bored of the music that I listen to because its always changing. If you take a look through my music, there are really only two genres of music that I won't listen to: country and rap. Country has a little too much twang and repetition for me while rap just sounds bad. Just... Bad.

But I figure since I've spent the past couple days just reminiscing, I could put a few stories here and their songs. I'll also note that videos aren't really the point of these... I just couldn't think of a better way to post the music... Oh well. Creativity points for me!

1. The Grand Fonic Hymn (from Tales of the Abyss)

This song is probably going to be the first of a few that remind me of all the good times I had hanging out with Katie for hours and hours in Everett. Tales of the Abyss is just one of the many games that we played to DEATH. I really miss a lot of the people in Everett and I swear I'm still trying to visit... But expenses and free time don't always line up so nice and neat. But here's the first of a few to my best friend in Everett. Katie, you're awesome. Also, I still have that Samus picture you drew for me hanging on my wall :D

2. Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) - Lady Gaga

Heh, this song still makes me laugh. Why? I remember that before we were dating, and I really liked her, my first girlfriend really liked this song when it first came out. So what did I do? I asked her to prom and spent the entire week prior to prom listening to this song on repeat trying to learn the lyrics. Silly? Sure. But that's how I do just about everything. So I did just that. I learned all the lyrics in less than a week and felt pretty proud and silly that I did it. Now I just laugh at exactly how ridiculous that sounds.

3. Cry For You - September

When its 2am and I'm writing a sit rep, this was the song I would play on repeat in order to keep myself awake and focused on the writing at hand. Because they were so long... And so boring... And so ugh. Go go being an RA.

4. Rewrite - Asian Kung-Fu Generation

Here's the second one for Katie. The person who introduced me to the world of anime, manga, and the Japanese culture. I think this was my first anime and we used to joke that Izumi and Ed were just like the two of us. Going back and forth and back and forth. I think I still have my #7 DVD of the series around here somewhere...

5. Mad World - Gary Jules & Dead Island Trailer - Giles Lamb

Whenever I get really bummed out about whatever, I seem to listen to these two songs. It probably just makes things worse, but they're really pretty and I do what I think is my best thinking while just deciding to contemplate everything at once while listening to them. I should stop doing that. Thinking is hard.

6. Lon Lon Ranch (Orchestrated) - Koji Kondo

Its true, I am a huge Zelda fan. I've got the Hylian Crest basically splattered over about everything I can from my keys to my computer. But more than just that, this song is really mellow. Its well orchestrated and it kinda makes me feel comfortable and calm no matter what the situation. If you listen closely in the hallways, you might even hear it going as I pass by.

7. Around the World - ATC

This song first came out back when I lived in Virginia. Man that was a long time ago... I can remember I used to listen to it all the time with my Cub Scout buddies (especially John) and I still remember some of those times to this day. That's also why I no longer eat dry noodles. They tasted awful then and they probably still taste awful today.

8. It's the End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M

Here's a great example of bus music for the VHS Ski Team. Kasey and I would sit in the back and harmonize and sing all trip long every trip. I loved that ski team and being captain my senior year was pretty cool too until I hurt my shoulder and then basically became useless for the entire end of the season... Not skiing with poles for 3 weeks will do that to you...

9. A Song for the King of Kings - Kitomu Miyaza

All of my yes. Just. Yes. Another song for the wonderful Katie and our terrifying neural link that we had while playing this game. I swear, we played it enough that we could predict each other's moves in advance and move the katamari fluidly without any change in speed (unless we were reversing or boosting of course). It was great. "Everyday, everynight, something something on the rainbow. I leave no messages!"

10. Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's

This song is sad time o' clock. Nuff said.

So that's kind of a quick list of some of my recent nostalgia... The good, the bad, and the silly. Its all right there.

Just Around the Riverbend

So I just finished a float trip down the Chena river earlier this morning. Sure it wasn't anything major, but it was so much fun. Some of my coworkers and I entered ourselves in the Red Green Regatta here in Fairbanks and made our own raft and then floated it for about 2 hours and just let the current do its thing (we paddled when it looked like the bank was creeping up a little too close to us though).

The whole thing was awesome though. There were over 70 entries in the regatta as well, so seeing everyone with their own homemade rafts was quite the spectacle. Really it was a big water fight that just so happened to take place on a river on rafts, but you know, it was still fun nonetheless. My friend Noah was part of a boat that had a grill on it and gave hot dogs to other passing rafts. I mean, how cool is that?

On to the bad news though...

So Res Life may have messed up my housing. And by may have, I really mean "They did. For sure. Damn it." Normally, when you apply for housing, you get to make three choices for hall and room type and they assign you a room based on that information. Previously, I was slated to be a Resident Assistant again, so my room assignment was totally covered. However, they had me turn in an application anyways so I just put down the hall I was going to be working in without a room type. Here's the kicker. Now that I'm not being a RA, they decided to use that application anyways. Now I have a roommate (which is no bueno) and I'm working on getting that fixed.

I'm sure there's other stuff going on in my mind, but maybe its best to leave it be for now. Thinking is hard.

There's a time for speed... But that isn't now.

One of my favorite things to do with older video games is to come back to them after years of playing and test myself with them. I could do 100% completion, see if I can do it without dying, or any number of modifiers and it makes the game new again. Yet, the best modifier (in my opinion) is and forever will be "Just how fast can I beat this game?"

I mean, sure not dying for an entire game seems pretty interesting, but it doesn't really give me anything to compare against. By doing a speedrun of a game, I can say "Hey, I've been able to do it this fast. Can you?" because it sets a definitive level of accomplishment for the game. Plus, I've done it with quite a few games over the years like:

Super Mario 64 - 2:06:36
Super Mario Sunshine - 2:37:12
Banjo Kazooie - 4:56:22

And then I know, I've done it with games like Halo 3, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Bayonetta, and Metroid Prime but I don't have those times offhand....

But this week I realized that there are two types of game that I just can't bring myself to do a speedrun of. There are those games that are built entirely off of timed events (like racing games or fighting games) and then there are games that it would just be considered a disgrace to rush through.

What would Final Fantasy be like if you never took the time to power level? What would Zelda games be like if you never did a single side-quest? What would Just Cause 2 be like if you chose not to explore anywhere? Its games like these that it just hurts to even try. On the 4th I wanted to spend my day speeding my way through Windwaker like a champ and see how fast I could do it, but it soon dawned on me that I was just missing out on all of the fun that the game had to offer. Sure I can teleport using cyclones to just about anywhere on the Great Sea, but isn't it more satisfying to just cruise along on the King of Red Lions and listen to the ocean theme play? Sure I could power my way through the plot of the game, but never entering any secret dungeons, never getting any Pieces of Heart, never taking the time to seek out Great Fairies ended up just not being fun. Sure I could say "I finished Windwaker in 10 hours and XX minutes" (that's about how long it would have taken me if I didn't just give up) but instead I'd rather dick around in my boat and see what the game has to offer. Hell, I might even do that ridiculously long trading side-quest from Windfall and have highly redundant armor even though I rarely take damage anyways.

But yeah, there will always be those games that I can never and will never attempt to speedrun. Heck, after about 40 hours of play time I think I've only done 3 plot missions in Skyrim. Because why plot when I can run around and crouch to pretend I'm not there and steal the clothes off of ordinary citizens without them knowing?

I'll leave the speed to Sonic, expansive RPGs are meant to be enjoyed.

Success!

So work has been going pretty well so far. By pretty well, I mean freaking amazing.

I really enjoy where I work. I wake up in the morning (early enough to call myself a normal person), eat some breakfast, shower if I didn't the night before, and then make the 10-15 minute commute downtown to work. When I get there, I sit down and say my good mornings before just getting to work. For those who don't know, I do tech support for Golden Valley Electric Association/AlasConnect over the phone and I really find it to be one of the most rewarding jobs that I've ever had. I basically spend all day working with a great group of people and helping others with their computer problems. And that's just it, its fun. I'm there doing what I love to do, doing well at it, and learning in the process.

I just had my 30 day evaluation the other day too and even that went really well. So occasionally I come into work with my shirts being a little too wrinkly and sometimes I socialize too much, but I'm still doing well and having fun. It's also nice to hear that they like me working there as well. So much, in fact, that I got my level 3 security clearance 5 months earlier than I was supposed to. Now I can get into my part of the office without someone having to let me in! I work in the NOC, or Network Operations Center, which has quite a lot of information and responsibility in there so it requires a level 3 clearance to get in. So does our massive Data Center, but unless I'm escorting I don't really have a reason to be up in there. Plus its cold. Stupid cold for how warm the Fairbanks summer is.

Now to just keep up what I've been doing and continue enjoying myself there all the while.

A Whirwind of events

I feel like its been too long since I've had time to be on here... I guess that means I've just been busy though. So some fun things have been going on recently, so I really think that this summer is going to be INFINITELY better than last summer... (We don't talk about last summer anymore...).

So first things first, a couple weeks ago I had the chance to go back to Valdez to see my brother's graduation and my family which was pretty nice. I don't get to see them all that often now that they've moved to Ohio. But I didn't just sit around while I was there. I arrived in Valdez (just barely due to weather) on Thursday night and the first thing I did was visit Doug and Kasey. Why? Because Iunno. The next day I spent the entire day helping with graduation setup for the live streaming that the tech department does and helping the band practice for Pomp and Circumstance. Yep, I played with the high school band again! Then that night at graduation I played with the band and had a surprise solo... Because I had agreed to sightread their piece that they chose to play before Pomp and Circumstance and I quickly found out that the horn part had a solo halfway through the song as I was playing it.... Oh well, I didn't really mind and I didn't screw it up so pluses all around! The rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends around town until I left Sunday afternoon.

But then the fun REALLY started. Because a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday morning I started work at Golden Valley Electric Association as a Computer Student Intern - Helpdesk. I think I enjoy this job the most out of any job I've had in the past. Basically what I do is I answer phones, help our customers with whatever issues they have, and occasionally escort people into our Data Centers at work (which, by the way, are super awesome). Sadly enough, I can't take pictures of it to show anyone (its Data Center policy) but take my word for it when I say its totally worth seeing if you ever had the chance. For me it was my first view of a REAL server room. ANYWAYS, I really think this job has made me happier than any job I've had in the past. I get to do tech work, be social all day, work with a great group of people, and I really feel like I'm appreciated with the work that I do. Maybe they'll let me stay during the school year.... But that's a question for later.

As for the rest of the summer, its really good to still have some free time in which I can hang out with my friends. Some of them I barely saw during the school year, so its really nice to be able to see them now. And other than that I just kind of relax. Its nice having little to no stress over deadlines or homework during the summer. I actually feel like I have a break.

Summer is a great thing.

In Closing

Finals week was one of those weeks where I wish I could have seen the sun, the people, and the sanity in my life. Needless to say, that didn't happen. It was a little painful and I literally spent two whole days in my room writing finals. From Monday to Wednesday night I wrote over 10,000 words in essays, exams, and other assorted documents for my classes. But I still managed to make it through with a pretty good GPA, so it wasn't all bad.

Then came closing for Skarland. That was insane. So many checkouts, goodbyes, projects. It consumed my life. But then everything stopped for a moment. Nothing to do, no expectations, just waiting for a call on my job and then doing whatever I want on top of that. Its been pretty good. Yesterday I was really, REALLY sick though to the point where I couldn't stand up for more than a few minutes at a time due to the pain in my kidneys, but I think I'm almost over it. I'm pretty sure there is nothing that Gatorade can't fix.

So now here I am waiting for that call still and hoping that this summer stays as fun as I hope it does.

The Political Machine

***Protip - I have opinions. Deal with it.***


As a student, I like to think I have a voice in how my college is run. We have a student government here at UAF called ASUAF, or the Associated Students of the Univeristy of Alaska Fairbanks, and they are here to be the voice of the students when it comes to campus matters.


As stated in Article I of the ASUAF constitution, they are here "To provide an official and representative student organization with powers to receive complaints, investigate student problems, and participate in decisions involving the student body." This to me means that ASUAF is here to take student concerns and hopefully be instrumental in helping settle those concerns in the most efficient way possible. 


Needless to say, from what I can tell, that doesn't happen under the current administration. This is where my problem lies.


So this last week we had "elections" for ASUAF President, Vice-President, and Senate members and the chance to vote on ballot measures for the upcoming year. Now, notice that I put elections in quotation marks. Why? Because this election was a joke. It was nothing more than a joke, a sham, a waste of everyone's time. I felt embarrassed to even be a part of that process. Every incumbent position (President, Vice-President, and Senate seats B, E, F, and H) were unopposed. That's right, there was no voting really. I was pigeon-holed into one decision for every position on the ballot.


That is unacceptable. I wasn't particularly happy with ASUAF's contributions this year under the administration of Freitag and Ball, so even the option of another candidate would have been a nice bit. However, that didn't happen. Instead UAF has the same officers as last year (with a few new Senate members). How can we feel as if we have adequate representation as students if we have no choice in who's elected? I mean, there are write-in options, but in reality those are just for those people who have nothing better to say in terms of a vote.


But lets put those problems aside for a second and look at an even larger problem with the ballot. So ASUAF ballots have 3 main purposes. They have officer elections, ballot measures, and survey questions. I've already established the officer elections as a complete joke, so lets look at their second purpose. Ballot measures are supposed to be the student voice making a choice for their school on a matter that the student government has deemed to be important for the student body. This election had only one. Just one. And what was this measure you may ask? It was a measure to determine whether there should be 14 or 20 senate seats within ASUAF. Now how does that really affect the issues that plague students here at UAF? 


The answer: it doesn't.


Just another reason to show why this election was a joke.... Maybe one day it will be better.


Here's a link to the ASUAF constitution
http://asuaf.org/constitution


And here's the election results
http://asuaf.org/sites/default/files/Unofficial%20Results.pdf


And an editorial in the campus newspaper speaking about the same thing
http://www.uafsunstar.com/archives/13900

Accept ALL of the Betas!

I've noticed that I've been in an increasing number of video game betas in the last couple of years or so. It's really kind of interesting to be a part of them, because then you get to see how they develop from the early stages of being crappy games to being incredibly awesome over the span of a few months as they fix up all of the bugs in the programming.

This kind of sparked my interest because this morning I was sent an email to be a part of the Ghost Recon Online Closed Beta. Why? I dunno. But while I figure out why, I'll just continue to download the client and see what its all about.

So now I've been in these betas:

Ghost Recon Online

Minecraft

Team Fortress 2

Tribes Ascend

APB Reloaded

DotA 2

Not that I have any time for these betas... I have so much work to do in the next two weeks that I really should just lock my computer away in a box somewhere. But then I realize that I need the computer to do my work, and so I get distracted. Lets work on that....

Time flies when you're busy

Man, I've been really bad about being on my computer lately. I'm on every so often for a game or two with my residents, but most of the time I really haven't been on my physical computer. That's really why I haven't been posting lately, but now I'm hoping to be back here more frequently than I have been.

I also realize I have like 3 blog drafts that I never actually finished, so here goes this one!

So a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks. First off, I didn't end up getting the ARD position for Nerland, but I am going to be a RA there! I'm pretty excited for that to happen because that's really where I want to be for next year. I've really enjoyed working with freshmen this year, but I think it will be good for me to be in an upperclassmen dorm with some of my friends from here in Skarland and some I've met along the way. My staff ought to be pretty fun as well, so I really don't have any complaints with my position. I mean, I really enjoy being a RA as well, so could I really complain anyways? But Nerland is basically perfect for me. Its a gaming hall (not actually, but that's the tendency), its a dry dorm by choice (which means no alcohol), and I know a lot of people that are going there.

Music in my life is also going pretty dang well. The Wind Symphony also had a couple concerts in the past couple weeks which were really fun to play in. I've had more 1st horn parts lately, so I've been making some rapid improvements in terms of my playing. I think I'm going to go get the recordings of our concerts sometime this week so I can go listen to how we did from another perspective and see if I can pick myself out in the music. Jeremiah and I are also nearing completion of the Zelda Medley we're transcribing for a horn quartet (hopefully to be performed early next semester). I'll hopefully put up the arrangement we've done once we finish it but we do know at least what songs are going to be in it. We have (in this order):

- Zelda's Awakening (Windwaker)
- Ocean Theme (Windwaker)
- Song of Storms (Ocarina of Time)
- Song of Healing (Majora's Mask)
- Midna's Theme (Twilight Princess)
- Ballad of the Goddess (Skyward Sword)
- Zelda's Theme (Ocarina of Time)
- Epilogue (Windwaker)

I'm really excited to get it finished because then we can start playing it as a group and it will be AWESOME. Plus, if we can manage to have one of the faculty give us permission to play it in a Music at 1 I'll be ecstatic. I mean, how often would I have the chance to play a Zelda medley that I've created in a public setting? Basically never.

My new computer is almost complete as well! The last 3 pieces of the machine are now on their way to me after I got my wonderful tax return in the mail. I'm really excited to finally build this massive beast of a computer. Hopefully I'll have it up and going by the end of the weekend next week, although that is SpringFest and project weekend so we shall see how that goes. I know I really need to get those projects done and SpringFest is all hands on deck for RAs, so I know I'll be super busy for the entire weekend... Hopefully I'll still have some time to myself so that I can stay sane, but who knows.

I'm also changing my major soon. I still love Computer Science, but I have a ton of trouble with coding. I have neither the attention span nor the will to just do coding. So I'm hopefully going to change my major to Systems Administration instead. That way I can pursue what I really love about Computer Science, which is the Information Technology side of it, and hopefully end up as a Sysadmin sometime in the future. I think its a good choice for me and for my GPA, plus that kind of work is super awesome.

So that's my life as of late in a nutshell!

The waiting game

So I was trying to wait to write this until I had heard back about the job I applied for (so I could have some exciting news), but that obviously didn't work. Maybe I jinxed myself... Because last Thursday I applied for the Assistant Resident Director position here at UAF for Nerland Hall and then I was told "You'll know the result early next week." Needless to say, that didn't happen. Next came "Well, you'll hear this week" (again, didn't happen), followed by "You'll hear in the next 48 hours" (see where this is going?), and now it has hopefully stopped at "You'll hear on Monday." Now this doesn't seem too strange at first, but tomorrow we have RA Rush. Its the time when all the new and returning RAs come together and find out what hall they're placed in and meet their new (or old) pro staff member. That confuses me because someone who applied is going to be pulled and there are several halls who won't know who they're working for. Now, I know I'll find out eventually so this really isn't anything to get too worked up about, its just a minor inconvenience and a stress tester. I guess tomorrow I'll just find out where I'll be working if I don't get the ARD job.

Now for some old news.

Last week on Thursday I had my soccer finals for the first Spring quarter league and we won the championship! Hopefully we will have our shirts at some point this week to go with our team shirts that we have already, because we are just that cool. I really enjoy soccer, so I'm really glad that its offered here at UAF (but it would be better if it were a Varsity sport).

And now I'm just cleaning my room and then hopefully getting some more Subway later tonight before crushing Robert, Andrew, and Skye at Mario Party again :P

Midterms and programs and break time, oh my!

Its been a while since I was last back here... About 2 weeks I think. Its been a hectic couple of weeks as well.

So not this previous week, but the week before was midterms week. That. Was. Hard. The biggest pain was my 8 page single spaced Computer Science midterm. Luckily it was a take-home exam, but it took me over 8 hours to complete it... But, I got a 98% on it! WOO! The rest of my midterms/group projects went by pretty well too, that CS one was really the midterm of note though. So after that week of torture and work and not having time to do anything it was Spring Break!

Break started off with a bang as I went down to Nerland to do a full playthrough of Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain is an interactive drama for the PS3, and let me say: it is intense. The crazy kind of intense where everyone who's watching is having a good time and the one playing it is scrambling like a madman to keep everyone alive through 8 hours of quick-time events... That is a lot of quick-time events. A lot. But I finished it in about 9 hours with the happiest ending possible, so I can take solace in that. The rest of my break was really comprised of work and video games with some of my awesome residents. So it wasn't too terrible.

And now school has started back up. Time to get that brain working again.

Righteous Indignation

So I realized (after my mom had called me) that I totally forgot to actually post the last blog I wrote.... But now that I look back on it, I realize that it still pertains to now so I'll just summarize it here as well.

Recently I've had a huge burst of righteous indignation. For those who haven't heard me use that term before, its a trait I have that I'm told comes from my mother. Not that I mind it though. When I see something that I perceive as being unacceptable happens to me (or one of my friends) I tend to fight for that side and harbor very strong opinions on the matter. Plus, I really hate keeping my opinions quiet. Sometimes its gets me into trouble, but more often than not it makes things easy because you'll always know what I'm thinking.

There's also that whole "I go do something about it until I feel I've done what I can to help" part of it. However, rather than becoming angry and tactless I tend to become more eloquent in my speaking and drive right towards the heart of the problem when dealing with these types of situations. People are much likelier to hear you out if you have well developed ideas and concerns while speaking than if you come in with a set of demands. So I usually go in with a plan and knowing exactly what I want done in order to rectify the problem.

Two problems have currently caught my attention: the Honors Program and UAF Intramurals.

(Stop reading here if you don't want to hear my opinions).

Last week I had a meeting with Dr. Gary Larsen, the current Honors Program Director. Why? Because, in my opinion, the Honors Program took a turn for the worst this year. They chose to make some decisions that benefited the program and some that harmed it. I really like the fact that there are a wider variety of classes that are offered for Honors students now, that more students are being involved in the program, and the fact that, by fiscal means, the program is trying to give more opportunities to students. But these things came at a steep price that I'm not willing to pay. I gave this as one of my opening arguments: "I joined the Honors Program here at UAF to feel like an individual in a group of like-minded individuals within an ocean of students. Now I feel as if I'm a student in a sea of students within an ocean of students." Basically, its lost the individualism that I had experienced in my first year of being in the program. I used to be able to walk into the Honors House and have the staff know who I was, what I was like, what I did, and some facts about me. Now I walk in and nobody knows me. When I went to schedule my meeting with Dr. Larsen I had to introduce myself for the sixth time. That's unheard of. There has also been a flood of students, but not for the reasons which I felt the Honors program embodied. It was once a place for those students who did the research to find out how to enrich their learning. While the applications were open to anyone (assuming you met the criteria for entrance) they also required you to find out what the program was about. Now, due to some unsightly advertisements, the quality versus quantity debate began. I'll never say that these kids are bad students, but I do think that a fair number of them came in for the designation rather than the learning experience. The other thing that REALLY bugs me about the program is how fiscally oriented they are. Its all about the money no matter what. About half of the emails I receive on the listserv are about ways to earn the program money. My question: do you really need that much money? The one event that pushed me over the edge though was the sponsored "party" to eat pizza and send letters to the legislation for more money. I mean, its one thing to ask for the money as a program, but its a whole new issue once you have the students doing it as well. I do believe that if you receive a gift, you should thank whoever gave it to you, but asking for more immediately afterwards seems ridiculous. So I had a chat with him and it seemed to go well.

As for the intramurals, I feel as if my problem with it is a bit more pressing. It seems to me as if in every sport there's always "that team." What I mean to say is, there's always one team which has the bad sports or the violent students. This year there are a couple teams in particular which have caught my attention. One is in my soccer league this season (and last season) even though we switched the days we were playing. They're notoriously dirty players and it creates this huge feeling of animosity before the game even starts. Yet the worst part is the senselessly violent style of play. The best example of this that I have happened last semester. Their dirtiest player was coming down the side of the court at full speed with the ball before it took a quick skip ahead of him. Our captain (right defense) stepped up on it in order to knock it out as the striker powered up for a shot. She knocked it away, yet this striker continued his motion even though there was ample time to stop. I've watched his footwork. I know he has control, but he still followed through with a strong kick right into her ankle. This put her in a brace for two weeks with trouble walking for the next couple days. This isn't the only example of this team being brutal either, its just one of the worst I could think of offhand. The best part of this team though is their sportsmanship. The two dirtiest players refuse to even acknowledge our team after the game during the post-game handshake. Rather than being sportsmanlike and even walking through the line, they choose to walk off and leave the building. This the recreational league of soccer. Is that really necessary?

If you notice though, in this last bit I have referred to "that team" but I only have problems with two of the players. This brings me to my next point: it sheds a bad light on the decent players who are part of these teams. I know I'm a stronger defensive player with a strong team mentality so I definitely stick up for my team physically when it comes to a dirty game. Its a problem created by dirty players in high octane games and I know I'm part of it. Retaliation though hits harder than the initial problem though because of those good players who end up in the cross-hairs because of bad teammates. This hits EVERY team too. Most games have nice teams on both sides and there isn't a need/want for retaliation, but once you find that bad team everything goes to hell.

This is the primary problem I've observed in the Quidditch league this quarter. Last year Quidditch was introduced during the year and made its official debut during SpringFest 2011. Now, for Spring 2012, Quidditch was introduced as an intramural for people to play in a more public setting. Sure its mostly comprised of those students who helped with it last year, but its still a step in the direction of expanding its influence on campus. But again there's "that team," or more accurately "that one player," who is undermining the progress of the sport. I was invited to play on a team for Quidditch, but after seeing who was playing on one of the teams (and how said player acted during games) I turned the offer down. I prefer not to be severely injured during sports if I can help it. How do I know this if I don't play? I know this person pretty well, but more importantly I've seen the damage firsthand. Quidditch games are usually before my soccer games on Mondays, so I head down a bit early to watch. Every time I see "that team" though there's always violence. The worst I've seen was a deep cut on an eyelid. But seriously, deep cuts in a game with foam dodgeballs? I've even heard that there was almost a fight during one game with this team. Factors like that make players wary of playing. Why would you choose to play a sport in which you had increased chances of being physically abused? I know I wouldn't.

So sometime this week I have a meeting scheduled with the intramurals coordinator to hopefully iron out some of these issues before they become larger problems. Intramurals are meant to be fun not painful, so if I can find a way to make life better for me and my friends in our respective sports then I'll do it.

And there isn't a soul who can stop me. (Okay I promise my rant is over now)

Securing the System

I've really started to enjoy my System Security and Administration class. I'm actually learning a thing or two about Linux operating systems. That and I'm also getting some hands on experience in a class that actually has something to do with my future career plans. Too many classes require me to just sit in a room and listen to a professor speak at us about whatever subject the course is on. But this class, its a whole new type of class.

Since its a Tuesday/Thursday class its even separated quite nicely. One day is in the lower lab working on concepts/homework and the other day is spent in the upper Linux lab applying what we're learning in class on Tuesdays. They actually let me do things with what I'm learning! For instance, right now I'm writing a program using the fork() function call that creates a denial-of-service attack by exhausting a computer's resources. Then I'll take that and upload it to one of my virtual machines that I'm running and see it take its course and figure out how to monitor it using some of the other commands that my instructor provided us with.

How cool is that?

Simplicity

So classes are going pretty well, but that's not the inspiration for this post today.

No, today it comes from Wind Symphony. I've been doing quite a bit of work with music in the last 3 or 4 months and I'm really happy that its starting to pay off. For one, I've been recreating some Zelda music to play in a horn quartet and I have 3 of the pieces done that I want to have for a horn medley. I hope to have songs like:

-Ocean Theme (Windwaker)
-Zelda's Awakening (Windwaker)
-Ballad of the Goddess (Skyward Sword)
-Departure (Windwaker)
-Windmill Hut (Ocarina of Time)
-Midna's Theme (Twilight Princess)
-Temple of Time (Ocarina of Time)
-Zelda II song (Zelda II)

And include them all together into a horn quartet medley to be performed towards the end of the semester. Hopefully I can get it done... But its a huge undertaking.

Also, towards the end of last semester I approached our director with an offering of music to play. As the nerd I am (if you couldn't tell from above) I asked if she would take a look at Fountain of Dreams from the Kirby series. The reply was that it was too simple for our ensemble to play, but that another song may be able to fit the part. Today I received an email with a site full of music and a question about One Winged Angel (Final Fantasy VII) by Nobuo Uematsu.

That's a win. An awesome win.

Now to get that done!

Going full circle

Hooray! I know I'm a few days late on this, but my blog has made it a full year with me actually updating! How odd. I don't really see it as something that a whole ton of people read, but its still a place for me to share some thoughts about my life and just have them out there. The implications of this kind of blog are interesting though... If you think about it, I'm writing all of this personal information in a public reading space. Honestly I don't mind though. I don't put anything TOO personal in here (I don't think...) but I'm sure if I did my mom would call and tell me (yes I know she reads this often). As for this post, I should really try to sum up my first week of school now that the "blogaversary" has been properly celebrated.

Classes this semester are great. I've got a much more balanced schedule in terms of the actual scheduling (time) of the classes and the credit/time ratio. Last semester I was taking 8 classes for 15 credits and this semester I'm taking 6 classes for 14 credits. See a better work load there? My favorite thing though is easily the fact that none of my classes start before 11:30am or end later than 6pm. I get to work and sleep this semester! The classes themselves are awesome too. I have 2 computer science classes, 2 English classes (bleh), and 2 music ensembles. It's looking like a bright semester.

Work this semester will be a little different too. We had to say our goodbyes to Kristine as she moved away to another building while we happily welcomed Ruby to the Skarland team. My admin job for the building also changed which I'm a little sad about (in a joking way). I can't call myself "The Keeper of the Keys" anymore.... Now I'm just the guy checking the work order request lists and processing those. It's not a bad gig, but I have yet to assign myself a pompous title yet... So I'm having a little less fun with it. But only for now I promise!

Here's a couple other fun work facts. I had the first Skarland situation this semester and, on an unrelated note, I got to drive a bus! Since I can actually talk about the second one, I'll do that. So I signed up for 2 shifts of the Nanook Express which is basically an airport shuttle for students that Residence Life puts on as a service to students. I think its awesome personally. But back to the important part, they let me drive a bus. Through a town. To the airport. To pick people up and drive back through a town. How awesome is that??? I was pretty stoked and honestly it was one of the funniest things I think I've ever done.

My bus. It was awesome.

Here's another thing that has become a point of interest to me. By now I'm sure everyone who's going to read this has heard of it, but I'd just like to put on the record that I oppose the SOPA/PIPA legislative pieces. Rather than babble about it I'd advise you to look it up for yourself, but its pretty terrible and I hope nothing like that ever manages to pass... Ever.

Last but not least, I'm doing the unthinkable tomorrow. I'm..... COOKING. In my house for about as long as I can remember I've been a notoriously crappy cook. Baking isn't so much of a problem, but when sustenance is on the docket everything seems to crash and burn. Last time I tried to make the dish I'll be preparing tomorrow night my chicken was frozen on the inside, the lettuce of the salad wasn't cut through all the way, and the pasta was permanently bent and hardened at 90 degree angles... But, like the fool I occasionally am, I'm trying again. I even bought a full 18 piece cookware set at the store today so I can make it! Considering the fact that a pretty girl will be eating this food as well, I really hope I don't watch my meal crash and burn again... Here's to hoping that whatever minute culinary prowess I have decides to work for me!

FOOD FOR THE FOOD GOD!

A strange Muppet fetish

So today I finished my first day of the Spring 2012 training for my RA position. It was a long day, but luckily I like this training MUCH more than the training in the Fall. For some reason it seems a little faster paced, a little less boring, and a little more kind. Now we get to wake up by 10 instead of 8! That's a huge improvement for a night owl like myself. Although there is something odd about training....

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is Muppets.

You may be wondering "What does that even mean???" Well, it means that our schedules are based on Muppets. Our new door decs from Res Life are Muppets. Our pens have Muppets taped to them. Our notebooks have Muppets taped to them. Our presentations have Muppet-themed pictures. Our plates for meals even have Muppet designs. EVERYTHING IS MUPPETS. As Jamie put it "We will shove Muppets down your throat!" What has caused this is still a mystery to me, but at least its entertaining.

Plus, this time around, training is only 5 days instead of 2 weeks and we already know quite a lot of material, so its more laid back than it was before. Here's for hoping I manage to survive round two of training. Don't worry, its not that bad.

As for the past few days I've just been relaxing in Fairbanks and I finally got to go skiing when it warmed up to 20 from -30 for just a day before getting cold.

Now to sleep for another 11 hour day of training tomorrow.