Finished

I have just finished my English paper and earlier this morning I did extremely well on my presentation. This makes my 15th post so all that is left this week is to study for an exam tomorrow.

I am not as satisfied with this current paper as I have been with my previous ones. My other papers were the culmination of days of work and a lot of revisions. This paper, however, was written in only 3 to 4 hours. For the average person, that would be normal but I am very meticulous about my writing. Anyways, the paper is well written and is the correct length so I guess that is all that matters in the end.

Now I get to go talk to the Director of Residence Life and formally quit my Resident Assistant job. Hope this goes well!

I will be deleting this blog next year so don't expect any more posts from me...

Overwhelmed

I am so overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I have to do in the next few days. The three main things coming up is a presentation tomorrow morning, an English paper due tomorrow afternoon, and a final exam Wednesday. Usually I am the student who is on top of everything but that has not been the case lately. Although my presentation is ready, I still have my English paper to finish and the final to study for. I hate when I am behind and I have not been slacking. At least when I slack, I know it is because of laziness and all I have to do is work hard to catch up. But when I have been working nonstop and I am still behind, there is really nothing I can do. My main concern is the English paper. I have got only my first paragraph written and I am a very slow writer. Tomorrow I have only about 3 hours to write it and from past experience that is not enough time. Well everything always works out in the end so we'll see two days from now how I managed to pull all this off.

New Job

So I have officially become an employee of a tech company that develops scientific grade cameras. I will be starting work this Christmas break and will work during my free time next semester. I can now quit my job as a Resident Assistant (RA) and get away from all the ridiculous aspects of working for the Department of Residence Life here at USM. I am very excited about all of this and cannot wait until I am no longer an RA.

I have become increasingly fed up with Res Life at USM during my time as a RA. I feel that the people who work in the department are extremely unprofessional and live in a bubble isolated from the real world. I am pretty sure that all the upper-level employees started as RAs and worked their way to their current position, never experiencing work outside of residence life. This has severely limited the way they see the world and has created a distorted view of their importance to this world. Somehow they feel that their contribution to the lives of college students is the greatest possible achievement of human existence. Little do they realize that nearly no college students benefit from anything they do or even care that about "residence life."

Ugh, I am just so glad I can finally get away from this horrible job.

Busy Schedule

The end of the semester is just around the corner and so are final exams. These next two weeks are going to be extremely hectic but I'm looking forward to them. I've started to compile a list of the seemingly endless tasks I need to accomplish. Below is a list of some of these tasks:

• Figure out why the charge for my Spring meal plan has shown up on this semester's bill
• Wrap up my DBMS class project and create a presentation for it
• Study for DBMS final exam
• Write last paper and three blog posts for English II
• Do readings for World Lit, finish the last couple class writings, and study for the final exam
• Study for Discrete Math final exam and do class homework
  

Blog Posts

So there's just a few weeks of school left and I'm currently shy five blog posts (and just four once I post this).

I've never been a fan of classes with online assignments. The main reason for this dislike is that I find it difficult to remember to do the assignments. All my past experience deals with assignments that require turning in a physical product. However, when there is no longer a physical aspect to the assignment it proves hard for me to remember to do it.

Despite my dislike for online class assignments, I must say that this has been the most enjoyable English class assignment I've ever had. I feel that this is a great way to get students to write weekly and not dread doing so. Also, being able to write about any desired topic makes it much more enjoyable. I am definitely an advocate of teachers allowing students to learn and express themselves through enjoyable, real-world activities such as this.

Website Layouts

I've spent a lot of time lately working on a class project for one of my computer science classes. Basically, the project is a website for the department of Residence Life here at The University of Southern Mississippi. The purpose of the site is to provide an online system for Residence Life staff members.

One aspect of the site that I have spent a lot of time working on is the layout. One issue I have with many sites on the Internet is that they are designed with a fixed width (take this blog for example). That is, the content on the page is always a certain width no matter how wide the web browser window may be. This is fine and dandy with traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, books, and the like. However, electronic media does not have physical size restrictions as traditional media. Despite this, many web designers still restrict their websites to a predetermined size. Why? I believe it's because many people are stuck thinking about being confined by the physical restrictions of the material world.

I prefer sites that have a layout that flows. If a user chooses to make his/her window 500, 1000, or even 10000 pixels wide the site should fill the entire window accordingly. For example, take a look at the following screen shots of my design:





Notice how the page fills the entire window no matter how wide it is? Now take a look at a fixed-width website:





I find the large, empty white space very ugly and distracting.

Saul Williams

I came across a music artist yesterday that I thought was amazing. His name is Saul Williams and he mixes poetry and hip-hop. I am not usually a fan of this type of music but he demonstrates true talent and artistry in his work. His album "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!" was released today (November 1st) and is freely available on his website. It was produced by Trent Reznor (from Nine Inch Nails) which is really interesting because the two artists have very different music styles. I first heard Saul Williams in the following video on YouTube:



If you're interested in downloading his new album, it can be found on his website.

Reactive Hypoglycemia

Today I went to the hospital because I was feeling extremely weak and shaky. I have always had problems with my blood-sugar but I finally got to the point where enough was enough. The doctor I saw did multiple blood tests and came back to tell me that I have reactive hypoglycemia. Basically, my body releases too much insulin in response to my eating and after a period of time my blood-sugar drops below normal levels.

This semester I have missed a lot of classes because of the symptoms that go along with reactive hypoglycemia. Many times I have woken up for my morning classes but slept through my later classes. From what I understand this is because the breakfast I eat in the morning causes my body to start producing insulin and by the time noon comes too much insulin has been released which makes my blood sugar levels drop too low. This results in me being extremely tired and weak so I usually need to lay down for a nap. Also, I usually have headaches and cannot think clearly which deters me from wanting to go to class as well.

Upon reading about reactive hypoglycemia on the Internet, I came across references to a bacteria (Helicobacter pylori) that is related to both stomach problems and reactive hypoglycemia. This is really interesting because I also have problems with acid reflux.

Here's the Wikipedia article on reactive hypoglycemia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia

Truely Great Films

I tend to exclusively like obscure and practically unknown films. Tonight I have been watching a film about the Irish Civil War that took place in the 20s. The movie is called "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and it is amazingly well done. I would consider it better than most historical wartime movies but it has received little to no attention. It was produced in the UK in 2006 but less than 150 theaters there have shown it. Furthermore, it appears as if no theaters in the US ever showed the film. I cannot understand why such a great film has not received any public attention. Am I really that out of touch with my fellow peers when it comes to watching and judging movies? The movie Transformers was shown on more than 4,000 screens the week it debuted. Are we seriously more interested in some rediculous movie about fictional robots from outerspace than a film that depicts true accounts of our fellow man struggling for independence less than 90 years ago?

Here are two links that will give you a good idea of what the movie is about:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460989/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley_(film)

XBOX 360

This past Friday I was told by a female friend of mine that she had bought me an XBOX 360. She told me I would receive it the coming Sunday when she got back to town. I didn't believe her. Sunday came and so did she... with a large box. And in the box was just as she promised--a brand new 360. I didn't know how to respond. Do I accept it? Should I accept it? If I don't accept it, will it hurt her feelings? To make a long story short, I accepted it. I really had no choice in the matter though. She told me that she was not going to take it back so what else could I do?

Same-sex Marriage

The following video is a press conference held by the current San Diego mayor, Jerry Sanders. In the video Jerry reveals that he has changed his mind about a City Council resolution that will allow same-sex marriages. As a Republican he was initially against the resolution but he has decided to "lead with [his] heart" and "to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice." I think what Jerry did was an amazing act and I wish more people would come to the same realization. I am not gay but I do support the gay community in gaining equal rights. I find it appaling that in our society we still have groups of people treated as somehow less worthy than us "normal" people. Anyways, watch the video:

Sleep

Sleep has always been a subject that has deeply interested me. So much of ongoing research is focused on living organisms in their awake state and so little is focused on sleep. We spend roughly a third of our life asleep and yet we don't usually even stop to think about it. For most of us, it's just what we do when we're tired. Many theories abound for why we sleep but still to this day there is no central unifying theory. Some scientists think we sleep to give our body time to repair. Others think we sleep to dream. Regardless of why, one thing still remains--we all must sleep.

For my senior project in high school I chose to research the topic of lucid dreaming. For those of you unaware of what lucid dreaming is, it's basically being aware while you dream. It is a skill like any other and can be improved through constant effort and proper training. I have had moderate success learning to lucid dream but I lack the willpower to fully grasp the skill. Instead, I prefer to let my dreams take me wherever they may. I live every day of my awake life making decisions and I like that when I sleep, I no longer need to.

Little Sisters

No, not the biological kind. This post is about little sisters of fraternities. For those of you who don't know what little sisters are, they are defined by my fraternity as:

"A group of women who exist to serve a fraternity chapter's members. Too often exploited and poorly respected. Outlawed by Pi Kappa Phi and most other national fraternities."

I was raised in a family where men and women were equals. Also, I was taught to be respectful to everyone at all times, especially women. When I first came to Southern Miss and looked at the fraternities, I was very disappointed about how they treated women. It was not until I met the members of my current fraternity that I came to respect what a fraternity could be. One of the main goals of my fraternity is to be "men of class."

The first time I visited the Pi Kapp house I was unintentionally introduced to their attitude towards women. It was a normal weekday afternoon and a few members of the fraternity were sitting around the common room talking to me. The door opened and in walked a girl. Without any hesitation every guy in the room stood up, except me. I had no idea what was going on but I followed along so I would not bring any attention to myself. Each of the guys acknowledged the girl with either a smile or simple "hey" and then sat back down. It was at that moment that my entire view about fraternities changed. A simple sign of respect made me realize that fraternities weren't all bad.

Anyways, to the point of this post. Instead of little sisters, my chapter has what we call Rose Court. It is composed of many different girls who have established themselves as friends of the fraternity--similar to how the guys establish themselves as brothers. Granted there is a very fine line between our Rose Court and other fraternity's little sisters, but it is a very distinct line. When some fraternities bring their little sisters in to the fraternity, they haze them. The severity of the hazing varies but, regardless, it is rarely respectful. We, on the other hand, pick up our Rose Court in a limousine, sing to them our song (The Rose of Pi Kappa Phi), take them to dinner and then bring them back to our house for a party. For both Rose Court and the members of the fraternity it is a fun night.

I have a female friend at Southern Miss who is in a sorority on campus. She has spent much of her time at a particular fraternity hoping to one day get picked up as a little sister. This week she got what she wanted. You would think she would be happy but when I talked to her the day it was to happen, she wasn't. She told me she was scared. Alcohol poisoning, accidentally getting hurt and "lots of other things they make [them] do" were reasons she gave me for being scared.

I really don't know what to think about the entire situation.

Current Reading

I have currently been reading a book entitled "I Am A Strange Loop" by Douglas R. Hofstadter. The best way I could describe the book is that it is an exploration in to scientific underlings of consciousness. The "I" in the title refers to the concept of self or being. Basically, the title is saying "the concept of self is a strange loop." At this point you're probably confused by the "strange loop" part of the title. If you want to know what the author is trying to get at, I would recommend reading the book because I could never explain the concept as well as he does. The way I look at it is that we think because we're conscious and we're conscious because we think. It is this self reference that is the "strange loop" the author is hinting at.

I have always had a deep interest in philosophical thought and more specifically, how self-awareness arises from a few basic rules of the universe. If everything is broken down to the lowest fundamental levels we (humans) know of, all existence is the result of atoms banging around. Two or more atoms form molecules, molecules can be arranged in to complex systems, complex systems can result in basic biological systems, multiple biological systems working in unison allow for the existence of life and somehow life has the property of consciousness. Over the past few years I have been troubled more and more how my consciousness arises through this ordering of systems. The book I am reading is one person's thoughts on this very topic and thus far I am in awe to the insight Hofstadter has on the topic.

I will end this post with one of my favorite quotes. I would encourage you to read and reflect on it.

"Search back into your own vision--think back to the mind that thinks. Who is it?" -- Wu-men

About Myself and the Purpose of This Blog

Hi, my name is Mike and I'm a Senior at The University of Southern Mississippi.

The purpose of this blog is to fulfill a writing requirement for an English Composition II course that I'm currently enrolled in. I am not a big fan of writing because it takes a lot of time for me to write something I'm satisfied with. I usually hack away at the same sentence or paragraph for an excruciatingly long time before I'm satisfied with what's written. I know my writing is nothing that will turn heads but I do feel that my meticulousness yields decently written work.

One of the requirements of this class assignment is to publish one blog post per week. Since there are 15 weeks this semester, that means there will (hopefully) be 15 blog posts by the end of this year. Let's hope I make it there!