October 2005

Oct172005

le visage

I got up at nine this morning, a little earlier than I have been on Mondays since I don’t have class until 11. I had plenty of time to stop by Tolliver and get something to eat before class. I also stopped by Cathy Martin’s office to drop off past blue pages for my Sociology homework assignments. Per departmental policy, you have to turn in these tear-out pages that go with homework assignments to prove you purchased the textbook, the sales of which finance the strapped Sociology department I can’t imagine why there aren’t all sorts of people eager to throw money at them. On the way out I made the mistake of saying “See you Tuesday,” even though there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’m going to class tomorrow to watch Roger and Me. The better part of today’s class was about vocabulary relating to parts of the human head and face. One of the class exercises involved Professor De Mattos describing a person’s face in French, and then having the students draw a picture of that person. At the end of class there was a short quiz that I don’t think I did too well on. I went to Tolliver Hall after class and remained there until shortly after one when I went to get some lunch. I went back to my room afterward. I took a short nap as I was uncharacteristically tired. I left around four and made my way back to Tolliver, where I remained until shortly after five when I went to the cafeteria for dinner. Bianca was there and joined me. After dinner I sat with her for a little while at the red tables while she did some homework. She had to leave shortly before seven and I went back to Tolliver Hall. I went home sometime after eight. The washing machine was still broken. I didn’t do much this evening. I did slightly modify the header text, “Mr. B’s Domain” on the top of my website to improve the character spacing.

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Oct172005

The Weekend

I got up at a half-respectable hour on Saturday morning and took a shower before getting some breakfast. I took a walk through ‘historic downtown Ruston’ this afternoon, which amounts to about four square blocks. I was curious what was there not much. I needed a haircut too which was a more prudent motivation for taking a walk. I didn’t find an open one ‘downtown.’ I walked to a grocery store before heading back. I needed some quarters for the laundry. As I walked down Arizona Ave. on the way home I spotted a barber shop that I first noted a week or so ago. I stopped in and asked if they took credit cards, which they don’t. However, the guy there, Kenneth, offered to cut my hair anyway and take payment later, an unusual and generous offer so I got my haircut. I went home afterward. Later in the evening I met up with Khadijah and Sara for a trip to Wal-Mart. I just bought some shampoo and razors. Later in the evening, at seven, I met them again for dinner at China Wok. We walked there from Pearce. I left the restaurant ahead of them and went home. That was pretty much my Saturday. Sunday was especially uneventful. I was in my dorm most of the day, with exceptions for eating.

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Oct152005

Tulane vs. UTEP

I stopped in the cafeteria before class this morning. Most of today’s French class was about vocabulary relating to family mon mre, mon pre, etc. I went to Tolliver Hall after class and remained there for a while. Bianca saw me there shortly after one and asked me to join her for lunch and help her carry some boxes she got in the mail. I packed up my laptop and we went to Chick-fil-A in the student center. After eating we walked back to her apartment with two boxes with things her mom sent her from New Orleans. I can’t remember if she opened any of the boxes before we left and went back to Tolliver. She needed to send a fax and went to the Student Government Association office. She didn’t have any luck though the whole ordeal must have gone on for almost an hour. She had one more package waiting for her in the housing office and we went back to U.P. again. I stayed with her for a little while as she unpacked the boxes. I left shortly after four as I planned on going to the Tulane football game this evening. Shortly after getting back to my dorm I went outside where a ‘tailgate’ party was taking place between Cottingham and Mitchell. Some food was on a grill and a volleyball game was going on. I got to talking with Darren, a fellow New Orleans resident who was attending UNO. Not too long after I arrived outside some barbequed turkey legs came off the grill. There wasn’t a line initially and I got one, although a rather long line formed immediately afterward and remained for a while. I walked over to the stadium around 6:00. They were giving out T-shirts at the gate. I took a seat not far from where I sat at the New Mexico game, just a few rows up. Darren and someone else from my dorm, Brian, joined me. Tech’s band was at the game, so was ESPN. The band had a kinda-sorta rendition of Tulane’s fight song it was well-intentioned. There was a nice turnout for the game, at least on the east side of the stadium. The game itself wasn’t so great. Tulane played alright but some critical mistakes cost them the game, namely three turnovers. Two resulted in UTEP touchdowns. The third was a fumble on the Miner’s five yard line. Tulane was within three points in the third, but 21 unanswered points put Tulane away with a score of 45-21. It would have been one thing if Tulane had simply played badly but that wasn’t the case. Lester Ricard didn’t throw a single interception. I walked home after the game. The stadium is just down the street from my dormitory. I didn’t do anything later this evening, not even laundry, as the coin feeder on the washing machine was broken.

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Oct142005

Headers

The lecture in this morning’s economics class was about gross domestic product. Professor Blackstock lectured for about an hour and then showed a video which compared the economy here in the United States to other nations around the world. The gist of the video was that economies tend to thrive when the government stays out of the way. India, for example, while full of smart people, has a poor economy due to the insane beurocracy associated with trying to start a business. The United States of course is pretty good. Hong Kong’s economy was described as rather remarkable. There are no natural resources there yet industry there is incredibly prolific. There is a minimum of regulation on businesses there. To start a small business in Hong Kong, you need only fill out a single form. I went to lunch after class and then probably to Tolliver Hall until my two o’clock class. This afternoon’s sociology class was about ‘economic inequality’ and social class. The tone of the lecture made it sound like ‘inequality’ was somehow a bad thing. While it’s a practical given that the professor is a liberal, all too often she sounds like a communist, although I can’t say she definitively expressed such opinions. After class, I went back to Tolliver for a short while before History at four. This evening’s session had to do with the end of the great depression. I got dinner after class and eventually made my way home. I spent the evening browsing stock.xchange and adding some of those header photos that appear on the top of my website. I doubled the number of images in random rotation. There are 80 now.

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Oct122005

le salle de classe

I was ever so slightly late for French class this morning. Today’s session continued on simple questions, some verbs and vocabulary relating to the classroom. I went to Tolliver for a while after class and then got lunch around one. John joined me not too long after I had my food and was seated. I went back to Tolliver for a while and later went back to my room to straighten things up and do my sociology homework. I was back at Tolliver later in the evening. I made a stop at the library in the evening to print out the homework I did. On the way back to Tolliver I ran into Khadijah’s friend Matt and spoke with him fort a little while before making it back to Tolliver, where I remained until after eight. I was back in my room before nine did a load of laundry this evening.

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Oct112005

Warming Trend

It was a bit warmer today than the past week, but still quite pleasant. I read my watch wrong this morning. Just before I made it to the door of CAB, I noticed it was five minutes to eleven, not five minutes to ten. I was shocked and amused that I could make such a ridiculous mistake. With my first class ‘out of the way,’ I went to get some lunch. I went to Tolliver Hall afterward. I added some F-22 Raptor wallpapers to the website. I remained there until shortly after one thirty and headed to Madison for my two o’clock class, Sociology. Today’s session was about crime and consisted mostly of contrived generalizations, as I’m finding is all too frequent in this particular survey class. The gist of the lecture was that poor, uneducated black folk commit a lot of the crime because they’re poor and uneducated. Class was dismissed early enough for me to go to Tolliver for a little while before history. This evening’s History class elaborated on the great depression, which was touched on last Friday. There was a small class exercise in which students were to discuss in small groups what we would do in the event of a cataclysmic and sudden economic collapse. Most students said they’d probably liquidate their assets and try to stockpile food or something. There were a number of other responses as well. The point of the exercise was to point out that what we thought of today was pretty much the same things people thought of and did in the 30’s. After class I went back to my room quickly to pick up my swiss army knife as I was gonna need it later. I met Bianca for dinner in Tolliver hall around 6:30. We both got pasta and took it back to her apartment. After I finished eating we put together a small shelf she had. I would have done it when I was there yesterday but I didn’t have a screwdriver on hand. Bianca put on Resident Evil: Apocalypse, a rather dreadful zombie movie, while she did her homework. One of her friends, Derek, joined us after the movie had been on a little while. Dorcas came over after it had been finished a while. I left shortly after ten. I stopped by Tolliver for a Coke before heading home for the evening. The internet was barely working thus evening so I just got caught up on this log and hit the 2000 mark in Triffia.

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Oct102005

Exam? Today?

There was an exam in French class today. I had not really prepared for it and I don’t think I did too well. I got something to eat after class and went to Tolliver for a while after stopping by my dorm to drop off my books. I’m pretty sure I remained there for quite a while. Later this evening I went with Bianca and her friend Josh to Wal-Mart. She needed some hangers and things. I bought some bed sheets while there. With those things in hand we went back to Mitchell to help Bianca move the rest of her belongings into her new apartment. It took two trips in Josh’s station wagon to get everything. She had a fridge, bookshelf, a trunk and a number of other things. I sat in the car during the second trip as John illegally parked very close to the building entrance. Ami called while I was in the car and we talked for a little while as I was sorta helping unload the car on the second go-round. Josh took me back to Cottingham afterward. By then it was well after 11, I went to bed as soon as I got home.

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Oct092005

Unloading

It was cool outside today as it has been these last few days. Perhaps the pleasant weather is here to stay for a while. Like yesterday, there was no haste in getting up this morning. I believe I ate before noon today though. I got a waffle. I went to the trouble to microwave the syrup with some butter this time very good. After breakfast I went to sit in Tolliver Hall, where I remained for the better part of the afternoon. I got a call from Bianca in the afternoon. She’d just arrived back in Ruston after being in New Orleans for the weekend, packing up some things from her house there. I walked over to the University Park apartments, where Bianca is moving, shortly after nine to meet them just as they were pulling up. Dorcas’ car was filled to the brim with stuff but between the three of us, we were able to unload it surprisingly fast. I stuck around with Bianca after unloading the car to help her put some things away. I also installed a printer driver on her laptop while I was there. I walked with Bianca back to her dorm in Mitchell sometime after 11, and made my way home for the evening not too long after that.

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Oct082005

Tech Won, Tulane Did Not

Like the last couple Saturdays, I didn’t rush to get up. Khadijah arranged to have ‘breakfast’ together, although I don’t think we actually ate until one in the afternoon. We were sitting outside later and saw Khadijah’s friend Steve, who invited us to join him and his friend Matt to go to the nearby Chinese buffet. Neither of us were hungry but I shortly broke down and ordered some fried donuts, which were pretty good. I went back to my room later in the afternoon. I did a little work on my website and watched some football this afternoon. Both Tulane and Louisiana Tech played this evening. LA Tech did quite well, handily defeating Hawaii 46-14. Tulane didn’t do nearly as well, falling to Houston 35-14. Tulane was in the game for a good while until Houston scored three quick touchdowns in the third thanks to some interceptions. I think I did some laundry this evening too.

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Oct072005

Magic

It was unusually cool outside today, quite different from the heat we had yesterday. This Friday’s French class recapped numbers, time, and simple questions. I went back to my room after class and straightened up the room a bit and then went back out to get some lunch. After leaving the cafeteria I saw Khadijah at the red tables on the way to Tolliver and ended up hanging around with her and her friends for the better part of the afternoon. Eventually Khadijah and I went to Neilson where a Magic tournament was to take place. She arrived a bit late however and couldn’t get a spot. We ended up talking to her new friend Sybil for a good while. Sometime after seven I went back to my dorm for the evening. I ordered a pizza and stayed up late installing Gallery 2 on my website.

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Oct072005

Lost and Found

There was a test in this morning’s economics class. It was pretty short and I was finished in 15 minutes so I had a few hours to spare before my two o’clock class. I stopped at the library to print my Sociology homework before going to the cafeteria for an early lunch. After eating I went to Tolliver and remained there until I left to go to my next class at about a quarter to two. Today’s topic in Sociology was deviance and crime. This evening’s history class touched on the Jazz age. Near the end of history class I noticed I didn’t have my ID. After class I went back to my room and didn’t find it so I looked in Tolliver and the cafeteria. I looked again in Tolliver and found it under the seat cushion of the chair I had been sitting in a few hours before. I felt pretty lucky as my ID is pretty important as I need it to eat. With it in hand again I got some dinner and then went back to Tolliver and remained there until about 7:30 before I went home for the evening. I did a load of laundry tonight and watched some TV.

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Oct052005

Happiness

Today’s French class involved a lot of oral exercises involving asking simple questions. After class I think I went to lunch before heading back to my room. I stopped by the book store this afternoon to try and return a foreign language lab and get a size exchange on the sandals I bought about a week ago. I think I sat in Tolliver after that until I went to dinner sometime around six. I sat with John, Josh and some of their friends I don’t really know. After dinner I walked over to Nethken Hall where the first meeting of CinemaTECH was held. It’s just a small group that shows movies with a singular broad theme each semester. This evening’s first movie was The Woodsman, a fascinating movie I’ve seen previously which follows a recently released child molester. There was a break and a little discussion after the movie. A second movie was shown afterward which not as many people stayed for. [url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147612/]Happiness[/url], which I’d not seen previously was a amusing, dark, ironic and somewhat disturbing movie. After the second movie I stopped to get some water and then went home.

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Oct042005

Ryanhood

Professor Blackstock spent this morning’s Economics class going over the material covered thus far for Thursday’s exam. I no longer recall exactly what I did after class, but I probably went to the cafeteria and Tolliver for a while until my two o’clock. We had our first exam in Sociology today. It was pretty easy, although I didn’t remember all of the noted ‘sociologists’ and their associated theories. The test didn’t take long so I had plenty of time before this afternoon’s history class. Today’s session touched on World War I. There was a group exercise in which we were to analyze and compare two songs: “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier” and “Over There.” After class I went to Tolliver hall for something to eat. I kept my seat after I finished to see a musical performance in Tolliver this evening. An acoustic band from Boston, Ryanhood, performed this evening. The band consists of two talented singers/guitar players. The music was ok and their lyrics were pretty standard fare. The last song of their set was rather amusing, an acoustic guitar rendition of the Fresh Price of Bel Air theme song. I went back to my room after the show. I continued the work on my website this evening and got a number of pages converted.

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Oct032005

Faculty Concert Series

This morning’s French class dealt with numbers again, among other things. There was a short quiz during class. I went to Tolliver for a good while after class and made my way to the Cafeteria shortly before two. It was pretty vacant by then. I went back to my room after class and remained there for a while. I went to a little solo piano concert this evening at 7:30. Dr. Steele Moegle, a Tech faculty member, performed a few works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. She’s a very competent player although some of the material seemed a wee bit over her head. The last piece was done rather well though. She played Claude Debussy’s L’isle Joyeux from memory and made a good close for the short 45 minute performance. I went to Tolliver for something to eat afterwards and made my way back to my dorm after that. I continued working on the website code this evening. I’m finding that CSS behavior between Internet Explorer and Firefox is annoyingly different.

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October 2005

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