The University of Georgia notified us in the spring that the cost of parking would increase by $120 a year beginning this fall. The mumbling and grumbling then ensued. Although I recognize the university’s need to break-even (public institutions do not exist to make a profit), I am troubled by the drastic increase over the course of one year. I am further troubled by the fact that the $480 it now costs to park anywhere close to my office on campus comes with restrictions. For example, I am required to surrender my right to park on campus during football games (unless I want to pay an additional sum). I wonder if cost of football parking will increase by the same percentage this fall. Additionally, I am allowed to park in one lot and only one lot. This is really surprising given the size of this campus and the fact that I must traverse it just to teach my classes. The counterargument to this is that the University maintains an excellent bus system to facilitate individuals’ movement on campus. While the bus system is quite good, it’s obvious that anyone making this argument has never attempted to use the bus system during class changes between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm. The result of all of this – I resigned myself to the fact that I will pay more for parking this year.
I went online earlier this summer and applied for parking (we have a weird lottery system – well, sort of). Today, I received an e-mail confirming that I had been awarded a parking space on campus – no real surprise as I am high on the priority list for the lots I selected. The e-mail told me that I would need to log onto the parking website to confirm my lot and pay for the privilege to park at the place where I work and attend school. I clicked on the link in the e-mail to complete this transaction, and a new window popped up. This was surprising as I have been through this process three times before without pop-ups. The pop-up was from Microsoft informing me that the site for the link I clicked was potentially unsafe and cautioning me that I might not want to proceed. Puzzled by this, I double-checked the link in an effort to ascertain what the problem was. It was immediately obvious – URLs do not contain the “@” symbol. This led to my search for the appropriate URL, which I did find, and successfully paid for parking. The irony (in hypothesis format as I am teaching methods this summer): As cost of parking increases the services related to parking decrease.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Critters are Taking Over
Literally…The critters are taking over. In the past week, a series of critters have invaded my space. While my farming background makes me no stranger to animals, my current visitors are leaving something to be desired.
The Chipmunk. By far, the chipmunk is the cutest of the critters. I first noticed the little munk Sunday morning on my patio. I opened the blinds on the back door to see if the sun had hit the patio table yet (I like to eat breakfast on the patio if the sun isn’t completely up yet), and there was the munk. I cannot recall ever being that close to a munk, so I decided to observe in the hope that I might learn something about munk behavior. After some investigation of my patio and light frolicking, the munk jumped into my strawberries. Given my lack of experience with munks, I found this feat quite impressive – the jump was over a foot. However, what happened next changed my view of the munk from once of appreciation to one of disdain. Munk proceeded to take a bite out of every ripe strawberry save one! I did not appreciate this, and as a result scared the offensive munk away from my patio. So much for my homegrown strawberries!
The Rabbits. The rabbits rank just below the chipmunk in cuteness, but they rank lowest in annoyance – kudos to them. I don’t really have an issue with the rabbits, yet. During my morning walks/runs the past two weeks, I have noticed several rabbits seem to have moved into the neighborhood. I’m fine with this as they are better neighbors than some of the humans in the neighborhood, but as with the munk, I was a little surprised to see them in so urban a setting. The rabbits watch me, and I watch them. Thus far, they have yet to find my plants, so I simply enjoy them. However, I am concerned that I will awake one morning to discover my plants destroyed.
The Spider. The spider is another matter. Now, I happen to like spiders. They are some of the most useful creatures God ever invented because they eat the unwanted bugs. My problem with the spider is location, location, location. The spider has decided to build a web across my back door. When I arrived home from school yesterday, the mail had yet to run, and I forgot about it until around 10 pm. When I remembered I needed to check my mail, I opened the back door and walked outside – right into the spider’s web. If you have ever had the misfortune to become entangled in such a web, you are well aware that it takes a massive effort to disentangle oneself from a spider’s web. Bad spider.
The Flies. The flies are at the pinnacle of my annoyance. Over the weekend, five flies infiltrated my residence. Three have now passed, but two remain are working round-the-clock to vex me. These two flies are the craftiest flies I have ever beheld. They appear to have the ability to sense when I am approaching with an instrument of death and immediately take to the skies. Further, they have taken to using me as their landing pad when I am seated on my loveseat. This is quite inappropriate! I do not believe I should be forced to tolerate this behavior in my own home. They were not invited and should therefore be expunged. My message to the flies…BEWARE: Death is imminent.
The Chipmunk. By far, the chipmunk is the cutest of the critters. I first noticed the little munk Sunday morning on my patio. I opened the blinds on the back door to see if the sun had hit the patio table yet (I like to eat breakfast on the patio if the sun isn’t completely up yet), and there was the munk. I cannot recall ever being that close to a munk, so I decided to observe in the hope that I might learn something about munk behavior. After some investigation of my patio and light frolicking, the munk jumped into my strawberries. Given my lack of experience with munks, I found this feat quite impressive – the jump was over a foot. However, what happened next changed my view of the munk from once of appreciation to one of disdain. Munk proceeded to take a bite out of every ripe strawberry save one! I did not appreciate this, and as a result scared the offensive munk away from my patio. So much for my homegrown strawberries!
The Rabbits. The rabbits rank just below the chipmunk in cuteness, but they rank lowest in annoyance – kudos to them. I don’t really have an issue with the rabbits, yet. During my morning walks/runs the past two weeks, I have noticed several rabbits seem to have moved into the neighborhood. I’m fine with this as they are better neighbors than some of the humans in the neighborhood, but as with the munk, I was a little surprised to see them in so urban a setting. The rabbits watch me, and I watch them. Thus far, they have yet to find my plants, so I simply enjoy them. However, I am concerned that I will awake one morning to discover my plants destroyed.
The Spider. The spider is another matter. Now, I happen to like spiders. They are some of the most useful creatures God ever invented because they eat the unwanted bugs. My problem with the spider is location, location, location. The spider has decided to build a web across my back door. When I arrived home from school yesterday, the mail had yet to run, and I forgot about it until around 10 pm. When I remembered I needed to check my mail, I opened the back door and walked outside – right into the spider’s web. If you have ever had the misfortune to become entangled in such a web, you are well aware that it takes a massive effort to disentangle oneself from a spider’s web. Bad spider.
The Flies. The flies are at the pinnacle of my annoyance. Over the weekend, five flies infiltrated my residence. Three have now passed, but two remain are working round-the-clock to vex me. These two flies are the craftiest flies I have ever beheld. They appear to have the ability to sense when I am approaching with an instrument of death and immediately take to the skies. Further, they have taken to using me as their landing pad when I am seated on my loveseat. This is quite inappropriate! I do not believe I should be forced to tolerate this behavior in my own home. They were not invited and should therefore be expunged. My message to the flies…BEWARE: Death is imminent.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Discovery through Loss
Recently, I lost a jump drive. Okay, not really recently - several months ago, but I just now realized that I lost it. In my quest to find aforementioned jump drive, I searched in all of the "usual" places: my desk (the one at home and the one on campus), my work tables, and then my bag. Now, bag should actually be plural as there are four bags. At first, the realization that I actually have four bags disturbed me, but as I pondered further, I realized that I actually use all four bags (i.e., discovery #1). I have two laptop bags, a messenger bag, and a backpack. One laptop bag attaches to my luggage, but won't hold much more than my laptop, a book and a couple of legal pads. My other laptop bag is the one that I use on a daily basis because it will hold my laptop, a few books, legal pads, student papers, etc. However, it does not attach to my luggage, which forces me to carry it when I travel. Since most of my travel is through the massive city that is Hartsfield Jackson International, this becomes very tiresome. The backpack is necessary given that some days I cannot fit everything I need in my usual laptop bag. Indeed, many a day I carry a backpack and said laptop bag. Finally, I have a messenger bag, for those rare days when I don't need my laptop and the backpack is too big. Thus, to each bag a purpose! [As an aside, the backpack was a gift and the messenger bag was free with purchase from Express.]
As I searched through these bags for the elusive jump drive, I found a number of items that I simply forgot I had (i.e., discovery #2). I found a number of pens and pencils (great since I'm a writing utensil snob), a jump drive - NOT the one that prompted my search, dry erase markers, legal pads, almost enough money for a gallon of gas, a dead bug, some debit card receipts, and a couple of "extra" computer cables. Discovery #2 was the most exciting of my discoveries for two reasons. First, I found supplies I had already purchased, which negated my immediate of purchasing more supplies. Second, the fall semester will begin in a few weeks, and I no longer need to purchase the standard fall supplies as I can now do my shopping at home!
When not in use, my bags reside in closet of my guest bedroom/office (if it's just me here, it's the office; if there are guests, it's the guest bedroom). As I began to pull the bags out of the closet, I noticed that it was impossible to walk in my walk-in closet. I found this highly disconcerting and proceeded to take everything out of the closet and engage in what I term a ritual purge (these take various forms about three times a year). A ritual purge involves pulling everything out of a space (usually a closet, but occasionally a box or desk), sorting through everything, and dividing it into four piles: keep, trash, recycle, or donate. Two recycle boxes, five donation boxes, and a trash bag later, I can now walk all the way to the back of my closet and touch the back wall. Even better, the closet now holds boxes of data that were sitting in the floor of my office! Discovery #3 was the most time consuming, but ultimately was very rewarding.
Discovery #4 was the most painful of my discoveries, but I think pain is often a part of the self-discovery process. I realized, in the words of Jillian, "Todd, you're a packrat." My packrat pain exists at two levels. First, there is the trauma associated with the fact that I am hoarder. To assuage my anti-materialistic readers, rest assured that I don't hoard normal items. No, in the grand irony that is the ivory tower, I hoard...my previous academic work (all the way back to high school). August begins year 10 of higher education for me, which means I've hoarded a LOT of stuff. Even sadder, I hoarded papers of which I have electronic copies. For the environmentally aware, these papers found a new home at the Athens-Clarke County recycling center. The second trauma is the realization that my proclivity is genetic. Yes, I am the son of hoarders. As someone who studies families for a living, I know that in many ways we're all becoming our parents. However, that does little to lessen the pain that accompanies the realization that I am becoming my parents. C'est la vie.
As look back on these discoveries, I am fascinated by the fact that they are a direct result of me losing a jump drive, which I have yet to find!
As I searched through these bags for the elusive jump drive, I found a number of items that I simply forgot I had (i.e., discovery #2). I found a number of pens and pencils (great since I'm a writing utensil snob), a jump drive - NOT the one that prompted my search, dry erase markers, legal pads, almost enough money for a gallon of gas, a dead bug, some debit card receipts, and a couple of "extra" computer cables. Discovery #2 was the most exciting of my discoveries for two reasons. First, I found supplies I had already purchased, which negated my immediate of purchasing more supplies. Second, the fall semester will begin in a few weeks, and I no longer need to purchase the standard fall supplies as I can now do my shopping at home!
When not in use, my bags reside in closet of my guest bedroom/office (if it's just me here, it's the office; if there are guests, it's the guest bedroom). As I began to pull the bags out of the closet, I noticed that it was impossible to walk in my walk-in closet. I found this highly disconcerting and proceeded to take everything out of the closet and engage in what I term a ritual purge (these take various forms about three times a year). A ritual purge involves pulling everything out of a space (usually a closet, but occasionally a box or desk), sorting through everything, and dividing it into four piles: keep, trash, recycle, or donate. Two recycle boxes, five donation boxes, and a trash bag later, I can now walk all the way to the back of my closet and touch the back wall. Even better, the closet now holds boxes of data that were sitting in the floor of my office! Discovery #3 was the most time consuming, but ultimately was very rewarding.
Discovery #4 was the most painful of my discoveries, but I think pain is often a part of the self-discovery process. I realized, in the words of Jillian, "Todd, you're a packrat." My packrat pain exists at two levels. First, there is the trauma associated with the fact that I am hoarder. To assuage my anti-materialistic readers, rest assured that I don't hoard normal items. No, in the grand irony that is the ivory tower, I hoard...my previous academic work (all the way back to high school). August begins year 10 of higher education for me, which means I've hoarded a LOT of stuff. Even sadder, I hoarded papers of which I have electronic copies. For the environmentally aware, these papers found a new home at the Athens-Clarke County recycling center. The second trauma is the realization that my proclivity is genetic. Yes, I am the son of hoarders. As someone who studies families for a living, I know that in many ways we're all becoming our parents. However, that does little to lessen the pain that accompanies the realization that I am becoming my parents. C'est la vie.
As look back on these discoveries, I am fascinated by the fact that they are a direct result of me losing a jump drive, which I have yet to find!
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