The long summer is over, and it's time to get back to work. It's been a good break--lots of traveling (Texas, Alabama, Chicago, Slovenia, France), got a lot of quality work done, and recharged my batteries for the upcoming school year.
I'm teaching three courses, as usual--Introduction to Political Science, Introduction to World Politics, and Middle East Politics, and all three of them are pretty large. So lots of students, which means lots of tests to grade, lots of questions to answer, and lots of papers to read.
One of the things that's imperative for me this year is not to spread myself to thin. I did WAY to much last year, and I could feel the fatigue, both physically and mentally, at year's end. So I've dropped a committee, tried to loosen a bit of responsibility, and don't have a couple of South Africans to help out.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Too Much World of Warcraft Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
School starts on Wednesday, which means it's time for me to go back to work. Fortunately, I am pretty well-prepared at this point. Syllabi are done, courses are ready to go. It's a good feeling not to be scrambling at the last minute.
What this has meant, however, is that I have been playing a lot of World of Warcraft this week. A LOT of WoW. Now, I am not what you would call a hard-core WoW-er. I play once a week with my friends (on Tuesdays) for about four hours. That's very mild my gamer standards.
But...
The last three days or so I have been averaging around seven hours a day. Hey, why the heck not--I have the time, I enjoy the game; why not cut loose a little for a few days of hard-core dork-dom? And I've gotten my highest toon from 61 to almost 64 in that spell.
Good stuff!
What this has meant, however, is that I have been playing a lot of World of Warcraft this week. A LOT of WoW. Now, I am not what you would call a hard-core WoW-er. I play once a week with my friends (on Tuesdays) for about four hours. That's very mild my gamer standards.
But...
The last three days or so I have been averaging around seven hours a day. Hey, why the heck not--I have the time, I enjoy the game; why not cut loose a little for a few days of hard-core dork-dom? And I've gotten my highest toon from 61 to almost 64 in that spell.
Good stuff!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Olympic Fever? You Bet...Sort of.
The Olympics are here--and, relatively speaking, I'm happy and enjoying them. Being an internationalist by trade, I like the color, the different countries, the competition, and seeing sports that I don't normally get to see in the USA.
There are some things I absolutely HATE about the NBC broadcast, though:
1. The American bias: yes, I know this one is something I probably can't change, given where I live. But I am interested in people and athletes regardless of what country they are from. To sound sappy, the human spirit goes beyond any artificial borders.
2. The announcers and commentary: shut up, already. Let me watch the competition and come to my own conclusion. And the color commentators, who usually are ex-athletes in whatever event is being broadcast, are just loudmouthed know-it-alls who hurt the quality more than enhance it.
3. The focus on particular sports: beach volleyball does nothing for me. I like gymnastics, but not to the degree everyone else seems to. And I'm ready to fight Michael Phelps as much as he's on the boob tube.
There is redemption for NBC, however, and it is the internet broadcast. Not only is there a wide selection of sports to choose from (I've been enjoying Archery, which is almost NEVER on network TV), but it is commentary-free, which means you can hear the same sounds that you would if you were there without some tool telling us what to think about it and what it means for someone's medal hopes. So it's a nice, pure way to watch the event.
Overall I'm enjoying it, particularly because I have a choice of how I want to watch.
There are some things I absolutely HATE about the NBC broadcast, though:
1. The American bias: yes, I know this one is something I probably can't change, given where I live. But I am interested in people and athletes regardless of what country they are from. To sound sappy, the human spirit goes beyond any artificial borders.
2. The announcers and commentary: shut up, already. Let me watch the competition and come to my own conclusion. And the color commentators, who usually are ex-athletes in whatever event is being broadcast, are just loudmouthed know-it-alls who hurt the quality more than enhance it.
3. The focus on particular sports: beach volleyball does nothing for me. I like gymnastics, but not to the degree everyone else seems to. And I'm ready to fight Michael Phelps as much as he's on the boob tube.
There is redemption for NBC, however, and it is the internet broadcast. Not only is there a wide selection of sports to choose from (I've been enjoying Archery, which is almost NEVER on network TV), but it is commentary-free, which means you can hear the same sounds that you would if you were there without some tool telling us what to think about it and what it means for someone's medal hopes. So it's a nice, pure way to watch the event.
Overall I'm enjoying it, particularly because I have a choice of how I want to watch.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
I Think We're Working Again
Okay, I think everything computer-wise is fixed. At least I hope so.
My computer is back to normal, and in fact is running better than it has in a long time. Of course, much of that is due to there being a new, unspoiled hard drive.
The bad news, however, is that I am terrible at remembering to back up my hard drive, so I lost a lot of data. Most of the really important stuff I had on my laptop or one of my thumb drives, but the biggest casualty was my music. I'm not sure how I will get it all back yet--I wish iTunes would just let you re-download songs you've bought previously. Hell, they keep a record of it.
My computer is back to normal, and in fact is running better than it has in a long time. Of course, much of that is due to there being a new, unspoiled hard drive.
The bad news, however, is that I am terrible at remembering to back up my hard drive, so I lost a lot of data. Most of the really important stuff I had on my laptop or one of my thumb drives, but the biggest casualty was my music. I'm not sure how I will get it all back yet--I wish iTunes would just let you re-download songs you've bought previously. Hell, they keep a record of it.
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