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?