D'OH!

Wow. Heated class discussion in American Government this morning. We were discussing the reading from the book—debating the Anti Federalist’s smaller republic versus the Federalist’s larger union during the Constitution’s drafting—and got onto the subject of how the issue of the Federal Government’s power is still very relative today; e.g. America’s involvement with Iraq. The debate got pretty intense! Lots of opinions, all well expressed.

Learned one interesting tidbit: not ALL college professors are flaming liberals (as I am told by flaming conservatives)…my professor voted for Bush!

Long time no blog...

Well, last night my Language, Logic and Persuasion professor not only showed up close to on time (just a couple of minutes late this time), but actually taught us! He said that the reason he had been having "problems" was a family health problem, so I feel bad questioning his validity as a teacher :(

My thoughts and prayers are with Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose this sad day.

Well, it looks like Ben and Jen finally called it quits. I honestly thought that Bennifer would wait until their next movie together was released to go their seperate ways. *SIGH*

My Language, Logic and Persuasion professor was late again last night; 15 minutes this time! Once he finally showed up he apologized for being late, explained that the same thing might happen again next week and then passed around the attendance sheet and sent us home! Just give us all an “A” and stop wasting our time!

When I first started looking at my Language, Logic and Persuasion textbook I was worried because I thought it was going to be over my head; the inside cover has a table with complicated formulas using "p" and "q" in fraction form. *GULP* Once I started reading it, however, the content became less important than the poor writing technique. MANY of author David Kelley’s sentences begin with conjunctions; the actual breaking of this rule on occasion is acceptable under certain circumstances, but he does it frequently and awkwardly. Here is one example taken from page 34: “We can tell just by sight whether something is a table, whether someone is running. But most concepts are more abstract and more complex.” Perhaps this oversimplified writing style will be of use when we get to the heavy material. I can hope.

Tonight on American Idol a contestant actually quacked his way through a song. Yes, he quacked his way through. Sounded just like Donald Duck! (Appropriately, the song was a Disney song—"A Whole New World" from the movie Aladdin.)

After getting off on the wrong foot (the professor was 10 minutes late) Language, Logic and Persuasion regained it’s balance and has the potential to be a great class! Though there will be a lot of homework, everything on the test comes directly from the textbook! In addition, the professor is energetic and seems to really love the material, which is always infectious. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he is a Mac person (he does NOT have a problem with me taking notes on my laptop, and even asked if I would need to be by an outlet [which of course I don’t because Apple has the highest quality of everything!])!

The academic part of academia is great, but sometimes the trivial details of organized education can drive me crazy. My first class today, American Government, seems like it could be interesting; studying the founding father’s debates over how the government should be ran, plus relevant issues of today. Yet, all is not well in paradise. There are four textbooks I need to buy for this class (double the normal number for an introductory class at Metro), one of which the campus bookstore has not even received! In fact, both the on and off campus bookstores had a different—and larger—list of required texts than the syllabus listed. It would seem that on at least some level the school’s government is out of whack! In addition, after class I asked the professor if I could use my laptop to take notes (I always ask out of courtesy, but it has never been a problem): He said he would prefer I didn’t because the keyboard noises caused by typing are disruptive to the class. Let me present you with my argument FOR laptops in class:

1. I am an extremely thorough note-taker, due in part to how fast I can type compared to how fast I can scribble. During long lectures I can get four single spaced pages of notes. I NEED to take notes on my computer if I want to get everything down!

2. In all my classes up to this point no professor or student has even complained that my typing was disruptive, and many times fellow classmates ask for copies of my notes.

3. Though most students do still hand write their notes, I have seen at least one other person on campus use a laptop in class.

4. It’s the 21st century! The professor has a doctorate, so I expect the guy to be a little more aware of what is going on in the rest of the world (especially since he plans to discuss current affairs!!).

In the end, I explained to him that I always type my notes, and he agreed to see how it went before making a final decision. Oh, the hoops through which I have to jump!

Hopefully things for my Language, Logic and Persuasion class will go more smoothly.

Tonight is my last night of freedom. It is being taken from me; not by force, but by class work! Yes folks, tomorrow starts a new semester at Metro State College of Denver. Overall, I am really looking forward to it, but I just never like kissing my free time goodbye!

Today Truman Burbank turns 42 and the real Darth Vader begins his 73rd year of life.

Happy birthday to supermodel Kate Moss! (Hey, I am new to this blogging thing, OK?)

Something you have to see to believe...

"Cog"

606 takes! AMAZING! Read the article to find out how they did it!

Well, I think I have everything set up satisfactorily. Now, if only I had something interesting to say…

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