For some reason, I can't seem to set up comments; I get an error message. On the other hand, 2 spammers have made it through so far. Access to archive, main index, comment templates, etc. don't seem to be accessible in this upgrade, but that doesn't seem right. And I can't find a user's manual specific to this upgrade. What they do have doesn't seem to address my problems.
I push on...
I think I'm going to try to update my blogging software again. As I recall, the last time I did this I screwed something up and the blog was down for a couple of days. I'm hoping that this won't happen again, but thought I'd give you a heads-up just in case.
Cross your fingers for me. I hate doing this, but the upgrade looks good enough to risk it.
I want to archive my blog posts again, transferring everything from Nov. 06 (the last time I archived my blog posts elsewhere) to January of this year. When I exported the files to my computer and opened them up in Word, it turns out that I have over 5,000 pages worth of writing, comments, and of course the blog formatting.
After many, many hours of trying to import, upload and/or copy and paste, I can honestly say: this isn't going to be easy.
In fact, I can't get it onto my archive blog at all. It chokes, and the frustration this generates is compounded by the fact that it lets me get about 3/4 of the material transferred before it won't go any further. I've broken the entries down into bite size pieces in order to upload and import, and the blog tells me that it was successful. But when I check, they don't show up either on the blog or in the "import" file in the File Manager of my web host.
I am both disgruntled, and determined to triumph over the evil gremlins who like my active blog bogged down by old posts.
I will not let The Man keep me down.
The Gremlins.
The Computer.
Whatever.
It comes as no surprise to most that D.C. is crime-ridden. Like most cities, it doesn't discriminate as to types of crime: blue collar, white collar, ring-around-the-collar, you can find them everywhere. However unlike most other cities, D.C. has an overabundance of that much-maligned personality, the politician, to many a title synonymous with crooks. It makes sense, then, that authors love to set thrillers and murders against a Washingtonian backdrop. Indeed, Margaret Truman seems to have made a career of it, and more power to her I say. After all, she is the daughter of former president Harry Truman; who better to write such stories? I might actually poke my nose into one of them out of curiosity myself. I like a good mystery.
But what worries me- in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, that is- is when somebody orders four of them at once:
Murder on Capitol Hill
Murder on Embassy Row
Murder at the FBI
and
Murder at the National Cathedral.
As I pulled one after another of these titles off the shelves to fill the order, my eyebrows rose higher and higher.
It would seem that, this election season, someone has some (political) issues of their own.
Another... interesting... book order:
Flirting 101: How to Charm Your Way to Love, Friendship and Success
What business do you think they're going into? I'm thinking that some more appropriate version of
may be in this person's future.
The last of my course grades came in, and my 4.0 remains intact. The sociology grade was, in all likelihood, by the skin of my teeth, but I'll take that A all the same.
On a vaguely-related topic, I've rediscovered a flaw in my character: I only want to do the things I am unable to do. All semester I've been dying to clean my house and continue work on it. Now that I have the time, I no longer want to be bothered. I'm like this with everything, really. I'm contrary to a fault at times. Somewhere, buried deep, is the desire to get this housework done. I've only blathered on about it for a couple of years now. I even went so far as to order a couple more books on painting techniques which caught my eye at work yesterday; perhaps I'll find inspiration there. Randy took down the yew bushes in front of the house because they were overgrown and whoever planted them placed them too close to the structure. Our sad, saggy porch (the roof dips down a little and needs replacing) is exposed for all to see, as is the sorry state of the ancient paint on the logs. This means that I'm going to have to tackle the outside of the cabin sooner rather than later, a daunting task. It requires the sanding/pressure washing of the old paint, patching split logs and crumbling cement chinking, and treating the wood before painting.
Is it any wonder I am rebelling against housework? I'm overwhelmed at the thought!
My consolation at the moment is that some of the materials must be special ordered, giving me a little breathing room.
Deep breath. One thing at a time. I could start with the laundry and work my way up.
By Thursday afternoon I had taken 3 out of 4 finals; that just left the Sociology final which, like the Social Welfare final, was made up of essays:
1. Describe age ascription in the U.S. What characteristics are associated with each stage? How do we know that these stages are mostly a social construct?
2. Explain how gender shapes a person's life. How do social class and gender intersect? In your answer consider whether gender is more important, equally important, or less important than class in its effects on people. Support your position.
3. Is increasing economic inequality a serious problem in the U.S.? In constructing your argument be sure to support your position with facts.
4. Evaluate affirmative action as a social policy. Begin with a look at the Thinking Critically box (pp. 326-327) [from our textbook] . What is this policy? What is it supposed to achieve? How successful has it been? What arguments are made supporting affirmative action and what arguments are made opposing it? Which position do you find most convincing? Support your position.
With the other finals I had during the week, I didn't have the time to research the topics properly, though I had found outside sources to support my positions. I also had a couple of the essays outlined and ready to write for the most part. But then I got sick on Thursday night with a stomach thing which left me with a headache and knocked me out. And I still had to work Friday (couldn't miss work on a Friday 2 weeks in a row... wouldn't have looked good) so that was more time lost. The Soc. prof had emailed the class that the final was due by midnight on Friday, Saturday was the latest he could accept because he had to get the grades in. I worked really hard as soon as I got home from work at 4, right up until midnight. When I went to the online area to turn my final in, the option to submit was gone. I started to panic. I realize that the thing is on a timer and automatically disappears when the programmed due time has come and gone. I started to wonder, though, if I had misunderstood his email that if we didn't get it in by midnight, he would take it Saturday. If I was wrong, if he had simply meant Saturday in terms of "have it in by Saturday which means midnight Friday" then I was going to get a zero! I emailed him a copy of my final with a note explaining; this was in the online school area, which has its own email system. Then I went to his regular school email address and mailed it there as well. But he has been slow to check his email in the past, and I was desperately worried that he wouldn't get my final in time.
I didn't hear back. And I didn't hear back. And I emailed him yesterday afternoon just asking for confirmation that he had at least received the final. I didn't hear back. I checked obsessively all day and late into the night; I've seen him on late in the past.
Nothing.
I have been freaking out non-stop since 12:10 A.M. Friday night/Saturday morning. I've had to have people talk me into calming down. I've played video games that require me to think just so I could get my mind of it for a little while. I've barely slept as the fear kept creeping in.
Would I still pass the class if I got a zero on the final? Yes, probably, but my grade would tank and my GPA would as well. But I would pass. But I would tank.
Back and forth my mind went.
When I got up this morning, naturally the first thing I did was log on and check.
He had emailed me.
I got a 91!
I would have collapsed, but I was already sitting down.
I'm so relieved I could cry. Now I'm just waiting for my course grades for Psych and Sociology but, for me, summer break is finally here!
Two finals down. Math went well I think, as did Social Welfare. For our SW final, we were given 8 essay topics; we had to respond to 5 of them. I chose:
- Explain the healthcare crisis
- Summarize and evaluate protective services and foster care
- What is the Feminization of Poverty, and what are its causes?
- Discuss the pros and cons of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill.
- Define these terms (we had to choose 3 out of 5, and these are the ones that I chose):
1. Plessy v. Ferguson- (1896) start of "separate but equal" law of segregation
2. Milliken v. Bradley- (1974 I think) dealing with integration of schools through busing- not necessary unless segregation was caused by some official act
3. Redlining- prior to Fair Housing Act, realtors would outline areas in red on a map, and only sell property to minorities which fell within that reddened area. In fact, it was illegal for them to sell to minorities outside of those areas at that point in time.
I thought about choosing the essay on Medicare and Medicaid, and then I realized that if medical professionals can't figure it out, I should just leave it alone.
I got A's on both my Soc. and SW papers, which felt good after the effort I put into them.
Sociology and Abnormal Psych finals are all that stand between me and Summer break.
Silliness from work:
We currently carry a book called The No Asshole Rule about surviving this sort of person in the workplace. And really, couldn't we all use this book? *G*
Every time I see the book, Sultans of Swat, I read it as "Sultans of Sweat" which, given the subject matter, probably isn't too far off base.
Along the same lines, I was in a hurry the other day and double-botched reading a title. First of all, I read it along the lines of "The Psychic Within You" when it was in fact Psychic, Awakening the Power Within You which would have been bad enough, except that I actually initially read it as "The Psychotic Within You." Equally interesting topic I think.
P.S. I've just found out that I've been awarded a scholarship. I don't know which one yet, or how much I'll receive; I won't know until the awards ceremony in a couple of weeks. I'm so happy though. The way I see it, even if it's just a couple of hundred dollars, that's great. That would pay for most of my textbooks, and every little bit helps. So yay me.
*beam*
In commenting on people's blogs just now, I had to enter "jotaka" in someone's anti-spam code thingy. Doesn't "jotaka" sound like some exotic foreign word? Perhaps it is. But if it isn't, what do you think it would mean if it was?
Unhappy news: I bombed that math test. I passed, but just; I got a 70. You'd think I'd be more upset than I actually am. But the truth is
a) I didn't have any time to study because of that paper, and I mean literally didn't study
b) I had only had about 8 hours of sleep combined in the 2 nights prior
c) I actually do understand the material. Most of the mistakes I made were due to not paying close enough attention to what the question was actually asking of me. I instantly saw what I had done wrong in each case, so it isn't as if I'm lost or behind
d) the lowest test grade is dropped, and I'm going into the final with a 99 average. So there.
The final is Monday night, and he told us what we need to study. We're also allowed to have cheat sheets with formulas on them, so that's good. I'm sure I'll be fine. Ab. Psych is the only other class with traditional finals format: go to class to take the test with little knowledge of what precisely will be on it. My politics professor gave us the essay questions ahead of time, and my Sociology prof gave us 4 essay questions which he wants answered and turned in by the end of next week. Not too bad, really.
Other bad news is that I- Queen of Injuring Herself in Strange Ways- rolled over in bed 2 nights ago and twisted my knee somehow. I jolted awake in extreme pain. It was alright as long as I remained lying on my back, leg straight. It's swollen with the occasional stab of pain, but seems a little better today. I'm trying to stay off of it for the most part, though walking around the house a little to keep it from stiffening up. Ice, etc.
PTK- it looks as though I am (unofficially) the Vice President in charge of the Scholarship leg- there's also Fellowship and Service- of our chapter's PTK. This will mean organizing events centered around scholastic achievement mainly. Every year there is a topic put out by the PTK organization itself, and this year the topic is The Paradox of Affluence, discussing the disparity between the immense wealth in the U.S. vs. the simultaneous, prevalence of poverty here. I'll arrange for a speaker and events which explore this topic. I'd like to ask my Politics of Social Welfare prof to speak. He has over 30 yrs. of experience with this, multiple degrees after his name, and I'm sure lots of thoughts to share; it's what I've just spent the past semester learning from him, in essence. I've no experience with any of this and don't know what I'm doing, but the advisors promised to help me, so I have to trust that they will. I'll have so much on my plate as it is next semester, but being an officer will look especially good on transcripts, scholarship applications and resumes that I feel it would be foolish to turn down the opportunity. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Great news: someone is putting out a textbook on business communication next year, and they have requested to use this photo in it! How cool is that. This website will receive credit. It was an interesting photo to choose given the subject matter. Wonder what context it will be in?
Final thought:
I know in this day and age we have new politically correct job titles for people. For example, one is supposed to say "police person" instead of "policeman." Or how about "sales person" instead of "salesman." But it occurred to me on the drive home a couple of days ago that this doesn't always work. Specifically, you can't really say "cow person" instead of "cowboy" or "cowgirl," can you? "Cow person" sounds like some mutant created by a geneticist who had one too many nips with his acid.
I'm just sayin'.
I wrote about having to do one paper, due Friday. But I didn't mention the second for my Social Welfare class, due Monday night and weighted more heavily. And I forgot all about a math test on Monday until late Saturday. I didn't have time to study for it because I had to make some changes to my second paper before handing it in. I was late for my math class as I quickly dashed off formulas on the cheat sheet we were allowed. I'm confident about the test now, but wasn't when I took it. He glanced over it when I handed it in and said "You really like probabilities, don't you?" Said with a smile, this indicates to me that I did just fine.
So that's 2 papers down, a math test taken, the silent auction an apparent success. Last night was my last Social Welfare class- finals don't count- and today is the last psych class before we begin review for finals, which are next week.
Oops, I'm running late for that class. Better get going!
Trying to finish a paper, due tonight, and finish my hours at work, and help out at the silent auction. I almost pulled another all-nighter, but decided my paper would be better for a little sleep. I have the research done, and it's half-written. I just have to pull some information together and conclude. Even the citations are written up, so not much longer. Phew!
Next week is review, and then finals. I can do this.
Yup.