RyanHarne.com

Ironically, the day after my somewhat brusque opinion of the Collegiate Times, they include an editorial stating their unbiased aim for the paper. I appreciate their concern and efforts to address the issue, so I recant my negative views; I’ll leave the partisanship for someone else to judge.

Today was part-disaster, part-raucus, part-serene. Combinations like these provide those moments of zen we all thirst for. Experiencing polar opposites of emotion in one twenty-four hour period help us all re-focus our often misguided attentions.

I braved the football game with two of my three mentees. We stayed for part of the game, but slowly disintegrated as we grew disinterested.

I then went to Torgerson to get some C++ work done. For nearly three hours, I labored over a program that refused to cooperate. Eventually, I seceded my hopes from reality. I got out The Sweet Hereafter and finished it. If I am not mistaken, I read that book in one week. Woah. It’s a wonderful book, by the way; something to very much cast doubtful glances upon our fragile and hopeless society.

Later that evening I had dinner. And then I went for a walk. A walk around the drill field. With a sunset clearer, brighter, pinker, and softer than anything I ever could remember. Amazing.

Now I’m back in my abode for some relaxation and more work. Quite the roller-coaster day, now don’t you think?

I have, out of courtesy and appreciation, used, already, several excerpts or phrases from editorials in my Connotations section from Virginia Tech’s entirely independently run paper, Collegiate Times. However, my disdain for actually lauding some of their rigidly left-wing is surfacing. While I enjoy the editorials, regardless of their political sway, their non-AP news articles are simply horrible. Never in my life have I seen such a concentration of punctuation, grammar, and incomprehensible sentences left in print. Naturally, I exaggerated to relay my point, but I do not kid when saying that this is the worst editing job I’ve witnessed. But still, I applaud their 4-a-week efforts and hope they continue to “press on.”

Last night Au Bon Pain had a “two-for-one” deal that I gladly took part in; a cinnamon scone and wheat bran muffin later and I was ready for my spontaneous grading assignment. The classes I grade for had a pop-quiz or something and I was to get it back to them before the next round of their classes. ::intensity:: But I got it done, while sitting on a couch in the open area of Squires, even though that rude employee turned the light off over where I was working. Come now, Squires is open 24/7, that was unnecessary.

But other than that, I think I’ve been bracing for Ivan like the rest of the world. My Squires-remote last night was companied by a continuous MSNBC broadcast from various Ivan-fearing locations. I found it quite humorous to watch the anchorwoman try and sensationalize the hurricane when interviewing the college professors of meteorology who said this summer’s formidable array of hurricanes is nothing more than usual. Her efforts and grief clearly increased later when she talked to another MSNBC team member in Pensacola. He noted that things weren’t as bad as she was making them out to be, and it got hilarious after that. Oh well. When all that surrounds you are incorrect Inventor-quiz answers and the occasional passer-by, you tend to latch on to the nearest elements of humor and embrace them gratuitously.

Whatever, I’ve got work to do.

Once again I’ll promote my theory of the true nature of the freshmen-15. It’s not what college students eat that makes them quickly gain weight, granted the weekend drinking tends to complicate the matter, but rather what the university dining centers feed them that bring on the pounds, or kilos (for my Euro readers). Tonight I ordered a vegetable quesadilla. Healthy-eating dinner, right? Not a chance. Just the amount of butter that was put on the tortilla was enough to send my cholestorol level into the stratosphere. Plus, there was the cheese and the grease-fried veggies mixed in with the cheese…somewhere…wasn’t quite sure. If dining centers served smaller portions regularly and also did not even provide such horrrrrreennndous foodstuffs, the grease-and-fat laden kinds, I believe that college students all across the globe would see dramatic shifts in health patterns. The truth.

Anyways. I had an interesting VA Tech moment this afternoon. Immediately following my third morning class, I was walking over to Owen’s for some lunch, my iPod leading me with “Heaven (Candlelight Remix)” by DJ Sammy, and a smile on my face. Why? you may ask. Simply because I felt this comradery with my fellow college-goers. Because out of every dozen or so people I crossed paths with I knew one here and there, and that made me feel close to even the strangers. In part, it was the sentimental song doing it to me, but also I think that my campus promotes some sense of mutual-togetherness-hugging-attitude that other campuses don’t experience. It quite possibly also may have been that spectacular honey wheat bagel for breakfast. Smashing!

Tonight will be the study night. As will tomorrow night, but tonight is here and now and I must focus on it as the most important of my nights. I have impending assignments and examinations and I cannot pass by my opportunities to become “master of my domain,” as Seinfeld would say.

After a run, shower, and DiffEQ study, off to Bollo’s! Oi!

“Obviously, you can’t control everything, but you are obliged to take care of the few things you can. I’m an optimist, basically, who acts like a pessimist. On principle. Just in case.” - great line from The Sweet Hereafter by Russel Banks

Today marks the middle of the week. On this particularly humped day it has rained tirelessly. My brain is worn out from the erosion of classes and clouds.

Last night I took a siesta to Bollo’s. A remote-location homework siesta. But still a siesta. Even with C++ programs to write, Bollo’s can numb the painful effects of homework with loving doses of espresso. I am appreciative of this capability that they have showered on me.

My second DIMM of memory came in the mail today. I haven’t tried it out yet to its full potential but I have already noticed a difference, a positive difference, in my computer’s various rates of progress. I am pleased.

I am also really tired and need some rest before a long night. Enjoy yours.

Bleh. You know that assignments have ‘got you down’ when you notice a uniquely-formed cushion in your chair that seems never to reshape itself after you get up. Maybe I’ll try the ole’ Rumsfeld stand-up desk concept.

Since I have now parted with the boring parts of 1984 I once again found a passion, if only temporary, for the plot. I think Orwell made a grave mistake by bogging down a hefty portion of the middle of the book with an excerpt from a book that a character is reading; this multi-chapter excerpt is so hideous that even I dreaded picking up my novel for fear that I may, in fact, not find the relaxation I wanted. But I am hopeful once again. Actually, at least on some field, I am ready to read something else. There is a line forming in the gotta-read-it area of my bookshelf. And thanks to the freshman down the hall for his donation of Life of Pi to my collection; that book was the freshmen Common Book Project this year.

The rains began today. Frances’ cohorting with the skies of the East coast has led to a blanketing forecast of rain for this week. Yippee. In addition, the tireless winds of Blacksburg began on Sunday, distinctly began. Already I’ve got a jacket close-by for sudden trips outdoors. Not that they come often, however, because of my severe workload. Arg.

I read this article last week but due to my common forgetfulness I never linked it earlier. After last week’s iMac G5 announcement and this article, I came down with severe need-a-Mac syndrome. The symptoms haven’t gone away. Rather, I hope they stay; I need as much influence to start spending as ever.