Roofing in the rain

Time: 12:30 p.m.
Mood: Wet-Cat

Ok,

So I knew that my grandfather was going to bring some materials for the car port this morning, but around 5 a.m. it began to rain and never stopped. When he called this morning to tell me that he was going to go get the particle board, I informed him that it WAS raining. He said that we needed to get some panels up in between the bursts of rain.

Well, there weren't so much as bursts and lulls as more of a continuous wave of rain that kept everything slick and muddy.

More than once did I ask him "WHY, exactly, are we putting a roof up in the RAIN?"

He responded simply, "You start work on Monday, don't you?"

When I informed him that with the tarp up, the function of the roof was met at least temporarily - he informed me that there was no reason to "waste time" with a tarp.

So, while he stood under the finished sections of the roof and mumbled instructions at me, I crawled up on the roof and hammered nails.

Problem: The roof is swaying slightly (ever-so slightly) because the posts haven't had time to settle without being rained on.

So I jumped down from the first panel and threw up some braces to counter the torque.

Yes, HGTV is a handy thing.

Just when I thought I knew what we were doing, he would have me nail up boards in weird places for supports. Well, I assume that they were supports, because I didn't exactly figure out what he was talking about. And when I asked for clarification - he mumbled some details but it really didn't make sense so I just followed what he was pointing at and went back to nailing down the particle boards.

When it began to really pour, I told him that even though he was standing / sitting under the roof - I was on top of it and I was tired of having wet underwear.

So he decided that it was time to quit and would head home until the rain stopped.

It's supposed to rain continuously from today until tomorrow. I start classes on Monday, so things will either have to wait until the next weekend or may be Monday or Wednesday afternoon once I get back from classes around 2 p.m.

Ugh.

Ok, I'm out of the shower and the rain is coming down harder and harder outside.

I need some soup.

Later.

-Tom

Rain and Chai

Time: 2:30 p.m.

Location: Hatti Beaslys Micro Roaster

Weather: Rainy, Grey, Ugh.

Thank the gods and the heroes of caffeine that there's a new coffee place in Portsmouth. The place is located at the corner of the Green Lawn Cemetery so it's not too far from where I live. With the weather so wet and grey today, I knew that if I was going to get anything done, I needed to get out of the house to do it. So, I grabbed my field bag, the Mobile and went in search of Chai.

First problem: The hours of rain had dumped water into my car through the "small" leak in the sun roof.

After running to a car wash to have the water sucked out, I ran over to the coffee place to grab some energy. So here I am, seated at a large glass-topped table and listening to all of the gossip that the women who work here continue to discuss. It's sort of like trying to block out an annoying buzz in the background - just at the edge of your hearing. You continue to distract yourself but every once and a while words like "Bitch" and "Affair" seem to just jump over the counter and grab me by the collar.

The syllabi for my psychology 101 classes are basically done. I need to take them back and dress up their formatting a bit before I email them down to Sandi, but that will take no time at all. The hardest part was adjusting the new course calendar for spring quarter. I'll be posting it on blackboard as well so the students have no excuse for not knowing what's going on in class.

The car port project is about half-way done. The rafters are up and the posts are in the ground but there's no roof. I was tempted to string up a tarp temporarily to stick my car under just to keep the car out of the rain and I might do it depending on the forecast. I don't want the car to be drenched continually and it will take a day or two for the backyard to dry out enough to work in it. I'm sure I can rig something up in the mean time.

Once the roof is up and the panels of plywood and lattice are installed, I'll be working on getting some gravel to lay down in the back yard. Mother and grand dad think that it'll take at least 4 inches of gravel to keep the backyard covered. So 18' x 18' x 4" of gravel is going to be hard to get up into my driveway. I know we can get it from the family but the expense of having it transported is an issue. The driveway is very narrow and short of them dropping off a huge load at the bottom of the drive and me hauling it up with a wheel-barrel, I'm not sure how it will work quite yet.

I can say that the idea of having to haul up a ton of gravel, one barrel-load at a time is not something I'm looking forward to. I'd need to grab as many people as I could, some buckets or something and just start hauling it up to make it work as a weekend project or something like that.

So that phase is still up in the air.

Roofing and guttering is probably going to take a day at least. Hauling the large stones around from the hill to the edge of the drive will be something I'll work on before the walls go up. I think I just talked myself out of going anywhere for the last weekend of break. I'm not sure - I'd like to go visit the Athens bunch at least once over break; maybe Saturday and Sunday.

It's still raining outside.

I saw a few high school kids come in and they are soaked.

Once again, this small NEC Mobile has gotten people's attention. I'm blogging on it now and as people walk by they are entranced by it's compact size yet functionality. The thing they always comment about is the size of the keyboard and the screen. Unlike a pda (which seems to be used by people just to check their calendar or occasionally check on email), this allows someone to actually read through a document without squinting at a 3" x 4" screen.

When I tell them that the model is close to 10 years old and that you can find them for sale on Ebay for around 50 - 100 dollars, they seem interested in finding out the actual name of the model and such. If I was able to get this to recognize a wireless internet PMCIA card, I'd have access to the net when I'm out and about. The University, however, won't accept access from anything short of Windows XP so I wouldn't be able to use it on campus (I don't think), but while I'm at the coffee house it would be nice.

Then again, this system probably couldn't withstand the onslaught of a lot of browsing; there's just not a lot of memory or processor within it. It would be nice to send / check email though.

Hrm. Elderly crowd.

Well, I'm done here - I think. I could just hang out for a while if I wanted to, but I probably need to run back and throw up the tarp while there's a lull in the rain.

Later.

-Tom

Stress Relief

These are pictures taken when I was out with Chris and another old friend, Eric, out at the shooting range. I hadn't shot anything that required black powder in years. I'm still not a big fan of firearms but after this day I have considered getting a pistol.

Even Indy carried a revolver.

-Tom

If you look very carefully, you can see the shell still in the air from the shot.
It was commented that I look as though I'm pissed in this picture. I was envisioning putting several rounds into someone. It helps me focus.

This is one of my favorite shots. Fire!
I have no idea why my gray hair stood out so much on this day, but it doesn't look that bad now.

It was fun firing the M-4. With the tan vest it looks like I'm an operative for Blackthorne.

An interesting shot

A shot through a natural hole in a tree within the city's cemetery.

My Office

Just a quick post with a pic of my office.

Quite small, but plenty large when you consider that I didn't have any office for the first 8 weeks of the first quarter.

Today I had my first student come find me in my office for a make-up test.

Yeah, it was cool. :)

The Day of Finals

Time: 9:18 a.m.
Location: My office
Mood: Half-awake, but feeling good.

While I'm waiting for my Psych final to finish copying, I will take a few minutes to catch up for the past few days.

The last day of classes was Wednesday. I had a few students who scheduled early finals with me because they had scheduling conflicts, either University Athletics or something and one student was leaving for Panama soon for the U.S. Army.

The Reservist was very straight-forward about his request and told me weeks a head of time so there was no problem accomodating him. A few people who had asked me if they could reschedule never emailed me to confirm their request so I'm going to assume that they'll be there this morning. The Atheletes, however, are another story. Early on Friday afternoon, I get an email from her demanding to know where her final exam is and that she's going to be late for a game. Then I get a phone call from the University (our department) saying that she's yelling at them and insisting that they produce the quiz.

The student hadn't spoke to me prior to Friday other than "I might have to take the final early" a week earlier. Since there was no confirmation, I accepted that things had changed or that she had worked them out.

When I got to campus and dropped off the quiz, she was all smiles and appologetic (she was waiting for me) and explained that she was stressed out due to their hectic game schedule. Without getting into her behavior too much, I reminded her that she had not emailed me prior to that morning; a fact that she contested until I told her that I could check my email right there and make sure that I didn't miss anything.

When I got to my department, they were definately wanting to make sure that I had handled that student. She was rude and ingratious to say the least.

So then I began to think: "What if she was lying about the game or even if she was on the team?" She was already taking the test but if I caught her in a lie to that magnitude, I'd drop her grade a letter and write a complaint to her file about academic dishonesty.

Well, that problem eventually worked its way out and I spent the weekend preparing the Soc final and working on some house projects. The only big house project that is scheduled is the construction of a portico in the back yard to shield my car from the weather. It's little more than a roof on beams,but it could also, eventually, be turned into a back patio of sorts if I were to put down a floor (other than gravel) and screen it in.

There are no plans or prints for the basic design yet (which bugs me), but I'm starting to draw them up just so I know what's being built and how. My grandfather, who's helping me build this, doesn't need any blue prints (accurate, but not exactly helpful for those like me who can't build an arc with a pocket knife), but when I started to put things together with measurements and diagrams, he latched onto the idea to see exactly how it was going to come together.

Today is mostly for finals. I'm going to be on campus all day long with little to do other than sit through the tests and grade them. Tomorrow, I have to swing by and pick up some make-ups for those students who had scheduling problems today and that's about it.

Once the weather warms up I'll start to dig the holes for the support-posts in the back yard.

Oh well, it's 20-till so I'll end this and start to get myself together to walk to the quiz.

-Tom

From the office

Hi,

Just got my PDA sync'd with the computer in the new office and thought that I'd post a small update.

Today is the last class of the term and Monday is the final.

I should have a picture posted of the new office soon. I would do it now but there's no card reader on this computer.

-Tom.

Cat Comic

From the book

More Gear

Speaking of gear...
The last post about my field bag got me thinking about one of the "bad places" I go to on the internet. I consider ThinkGeek.com a "bad place" in much the same way I consider Amazon.com and John Neal bad.

I could spend way too much money there if I had it to spend.

From: www.ThinkGeek.Com


Don't go adventuring without it.
The ToolLogic Firesteel Knife features a razor sharp blade and emergency signal whistle plus a premium magnesium alloy fire starter. The Swedish made Firesteel combined with a special notch on the blade delivers an intense shower of sparks at nearly 3000º. It will even spark when wet! At just 2.7 oz it's perfect for a wide range of uses and it deserves a place in your backpack or emergency survival kit.

Price:

$29.99 Link

Brilliant Thinking, Brilliant Flashlight

While other LED flashlights are little more than LED technology force-fit into conventional products, the X5 is the result of an unrestricted flow of innovative engineering. Nothing is compromised or superfluous. Every choice- in optics, electronics, materials, thermal and power management, durability and usability- has been driven by performance criteria. Here lies the reason behind X5's unique visual statement.

Price:

$39.99 Link

Also,

Since I'm a book-person, (can someone come out of the book-closet?) I have explored many options to face my addiction and come across a cheap supply of good, small, sketch books.

LEATHER ETC. Permanent Bound Sketch Book

These permanent bound, hardcover sketch books contain 160 pages of 80 lb., acid free neutral pH, bright white paper. Each book also features a pencil loop sewn onto the inside edge of the back cover.

Leather Etc. Permanent Bound Sketch Books are available with black or red covers. Red bound books come with a black contrast loop that also acts as an elastic closure.

Price: $3.14 Link

You've all wanted to know

The rumors have been circulated for many years. "What does Tom carry in his bag?" The simplest answer was usually "Whatever's needed", and on many occasion it has proven to be just that.

Well, when I was digging in my field bag lately, I decided to see what was actually in there (because sometimes I forget what ends up within the thing) and grab a picture. I do believe, however, that similar to trying to take a picture of a black hole, this is just the contents of the bag at this time.

Contents:

1. Digital Camera (inside case)
2. Folding hair brush
3. Razor
4. Scotch Tape
5. Pill case
6. Nurses Sheers
7. Ipod and case
8. Notebooks (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary)
9. Sewing Kit and scissors
10. Cigarette Lighter
11. Waterproof Match Case
12. Map Magnifying lense
13. Toothpaste
14. 512 Mg Flash Drive
15. Cord 50'
16. Hot spark kit
17. Flat roll of Duct tape
18. Shake-light
19. Pens, Pencils and Highliters
20. Glue stick
21. Ruler
22. Screw driver
23. Cloth ruler
24. Cough Drops
25. Drink mix
26. White Chalk (because ya just never know)
27. Dice bag (because ya just never know)
28. Backup Spare, reserve pair of sunglasses
29. Clip knife
30. Nec Mobile Pro (Portable Text-Portal)


And this would be considered a "light" load for adventuring and Bigfoot hunting.

Water Color Journal Pages

I love the look of water color journals. Random yet clean.

I really would like to learn how to paint like this.



From here

My Second

10:21 a.m.

Yesterday was not a great day.

Yesterday I found out that I lost a student; my second.

Monday evening, about three hours after my Sociology test, a young student crashed his motorcycle into a telephone pole out in Adams County.

During the test, he was distracted and unable to focus. For almost an hour he continually glanced around the room, played with his hair and shuffled in his chair until he finally had enough answers on the page to turn it in.

He had come to me previously asking for some assistance and I referred him to student services for tutoring and to learn better study skills but he didn't seem exactly thrilled at the idea.

He left around 3 p.m. in a huff; aggravated with himself about his performance. I asked him if he wanted to talk, but he just left and told me to "leave him alone".

When I got an email from a student, one of his friends, telling me of his death I didn't believe it. I thought that this was some kind of lame-ass attempt to cover for him if he was going to be absent from the rest of the class. Immediately I began to dig and found out that she was telling the truth.

"Stunned" was the only thing I could use to describe how I felt.

Man killed in crash on Ohio 348

OSHP seeks motorcycle crash witness

I went through the regular day on Wednesday and tried to find out more answers and alerted the University just to be sure. I tried to blog, but didn't know what to say.

On a hunch, I thought that I'd look through myspace.com to see if the student had a page and it turned out that he did.

Sean

The most odd thing was to see the number of posts on his Myspace page from his friends who were sending him a message as though he had moved away.

Academia is what I want to do with my life. I've lost two students so far. One to violence and one to an accident. I have a feeling that they will not be the only ones I will lose.

Kerblechistani Karma

8:50 a.m.
Well, the car's in the shop and I'm on campus printing out a test with half-numb fingers. Friday afternoon, after hearing that I've been confirmed to teach three classes next quarter (I'm still trying to confirm the possibility of an office), my car started to act up. The battery light came on and the power-steering went out. My first thought was that the serpentine belt had finally gave up and broke. When I got the car home and checked it, I saw that the belt was still there just very very loose. By this time, none of the garages were open so I couldn't take it down to get it fixed.

Saturday they weren't open for some reason so I had to drop it off today and hope for the best. Everyone I know, in the area, is going to be out of the area today so there's no ride home if they can't fix it quickly. So I gave Jim a call and he's going to give me a ride home at least. I'll figure out a way to get back down to the garage tomorrow if I have to.

Ahh, feeling is returning to my fingers. Once I get the Psych test copied I'm heading over to the department office to staple them together and get the materials ready. I love test days. I really don't have anything to do but make the copies and check my email a few times to make sure I don't have any stragglers for make-ups. I think I have one, so far, for a doctor's appointment.

9:25 a.m.
The test's copied and I've found out that I DO get an office next quarter; room 124. I'll be sharing it with two other people but one is not teaching next quarter and the other doesn't teach until the late evenings; around 6 p.m. I believe. So Sandi's going to send in a key request as soon as possible and I'll pick up my key before the end of the quarter.

Boo-yah!

2:07 p.m.
Well, the test has been handed out for Soc and everyone's working on their test and essay. I've gotten no word from the garage yet; I called around noon but they were all out to lunch. I'll try again once everyone's done with the test. Hopefully it won' t be too expensive. I hope they don't have to order some part from Kerblechistan to fix it either.

Only three more classes left until finals. The students are nervous and eager to finally apply some effort towards their clases now. The smell of fear and dread has begin to sink in to the campus now that finals week is only a short bit away.

Confirmation

Just got confirmed - I have 3 classes for next quarter!

Woot!

Stand-up Psychology and the Art of War

9:41 a.m. In the Staff room working on today's lecture. I had to investigate the origin of Sun Tzu's name just to satisfy my own curiosity this morning and even involved one of the Asian Studies professors. Then a history professor over heard us and got involved and before I knew it, I had a full blown gaggle of degrees trying to remember and/or find out what was Sun Tzu's real name.

In the chaos, one of the professors realized that I didn't have an office. It's the end of the 9th week and they just now realized that I don't have an office. Swift. One professor said that their offices should go to their faculty before it's given to the other departments. I liked the sound of that. Another professor said that they'd get me an office for next quarter. My pulse rose.

Next quarter?

I told him, with sort of a joking tone, that I hadn't been hired for next quarter yet so I can only HOPE I'm here to get an office. He, the skinny Fem guy, replied that since I'm able to teach during the day, they should just make me full time.

Pulse continued to rise.

He left and then I started to talking to a few of the professors about Doc programs and how to handle it while working here at SSU. One woman did what I'm thinking about doing here; teaching with a Master's degree while going for her Ph.D. I liked the sound of that. It gives precedent to the concept and if they did it once, they'll probably do it again.

11:54 a.m. Ok, class was AWSOME! I kept the students laughing and they were engaged! I swear that it feels like I'm doing stand-up Psychology but if it works who cares?

I was probably in a much better mood for class today since I was actually discussing my future here at SSU rather than floating in a pool of ignorance. Knowledge is good. Knowledge is Power. Well, so is an army of evil robots but one step at a time here people.

So I'm back in the Faculty Lounge, my primary office, and munching on some pinapple chunks and nannas - mmm, good. I still have to finish the Soc review for class in a few hours but the very real possibility of teaching not one, not two, but perhaps THREE classes next quarter has got me pumped. Oh yeah, Sandi mentioned that I'll probably be getting an office next quarter since I'll be here every day .

It looks like I'll be teaching two sections of Psych 101 (a Monday-Wednesday section and a Tuesday-Thursday section) from 10-12 and then 1 section of Soc 101 that's on Tuesday and Thursday from 2-4. Since I would be on campus for four days of the week, having an office is definitely something that they're looking into. There's one office that the faculty member doesn't even use that might be 'converted' for my use. The professor doesn't hold office hours other than 1 hour a week and is never in his office around his classes. The theory is that there's something personal going on that's keeping him at home more and more, but the harsh reality is that the department doesn't have the luxury of 'extra' office space that they can leave unused.

Also, there are some faculty that only teach in the evening (after 6) and only twice a week, so there's no reason that they should have an office is they're not using it.

Yes, I REALLY want an office. I don't mind sharing it with someone else but just having an office gives me a sense of legitimacy and acceptance that I've been wanting since I got on campus.

Ok. It's a little past 12 now, I need to start work on Soc, hopefully it won't be some 12 page chapter again. There's almost no way of holding the student's together and stretching the class for an extra hour.

Later.