Suck it Trebek …! - May 26, 2011

Suck it Trebek …!

I already have two of my four grades (both A’s).  I’m not too worried about the other two.  It’s a virtual mathematical impossibility for me to get anything less than an A in my Social Science Capstone Seminar. 

The last class, “American Indian Environmental Ethics,” is still up for grabs but probably a B.  What a class!  

In addition to being very dry and difficult to read material, the class was not student friendly for distant learners.  Somebody must have made fun of the professor because his classes are too easy so he over-compensated.

PHIL 336 definitely falls into the category of vomit flavored Jelly Belly’s.  Well for better or worse it’s over and Dr. Jones I’d like to say it’s been nice, but instead I’ll just say in parting …

ABC ... Always Be Completing – May 9, 2011

The next two weeks are finals weeks for me so I probably won’t post again until after the 17^th. 

Let me use this one short blog to make a point. 

The online student needs to utilize every minute to study when the opportunity arises. 

If you are not completing an assignment you should be working on the next.  Have a textbook with you at all times so you can read in the waiting room at the doctor’s office.

If you develop those good habits, finals are not as scary.

Wish me luck.

The Easter Rebirth Issue ... a few days late. – April 26, 2011

“Why would anyone want to go back to school at your age?”  That is a question that I asked myself for years before I did.

There is any number of good reasons why and they are different for every person.  Some people do it for personal satisfaction or to get a promotion at work.  Other people want to complete their unfinished degrees and be a role model to their children.

Those are all good reasons but not the most important reason why I went back to school. 

I felt tremendous guilt that my father and stepmother worked very hard to put me through college and I repaid them by dropping out and lying to them about it.  We’ve already established that I was poor student and a drunk but I was also a accomplished liar.

Even after I got sober and while trying to live a life of rigorous honesty; I still could not bring myself to tell my father I had lied to him, even as he lay dying of kidney disease.  I feel like I need to repay him by finishing what I should have been done a long time ago.

I suspect that he knew and it would not have mattered, he loved me just the same.

Sound like another story you heard this Easter?

Have a blessed day and if you did not get any eggs this year I figured out why.

MUS 512 - History of Rock and Roll since 1965 – April 21, 2011

at "The Old Homestead"

After barely graduating from high school in 1983, I enrolled in classes at San Francisco State University.  But after wasting my parent’s money for four years, I had made very little actual progress.

To say I was a poor student is an understatement.  For years I gotten by on my smarts and never bothered to develop any of the habits of a good student.

In the semester before the SFSU invited me not to return, I took MUS 512 - History of Rock and Roll since 1965.

I’m living in San Francisco land of the Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and “The Last Waltz” for God’s sake. Slam-dunk right?  How do I think I did?

I’ve attached a copy of me in the only class I attended with any regularity.  Did I mention that I liked to drink…a lot?

If you want to learn how to be a better student or if you struggle with alcohol; write me.  I have experience with both and would love to talk to you about either.

Have a blessed Good Friday.

“Crikey!” exclaimed the ghost of Steve Irwin." – April 18, 2011

“Crikey mate now you’ve gone too far!” exclaimed the ghost of Steve Irwin, “cutting up elephants and keeping them in your freezer.”

Wait, before you rat me out to the Wildlife Protection Agency. You can call off the Forestry Feds. I’m not going to prison to be some bad man’s boyfriend.

If you have not already figured it out the beast I’m attempting to consume is my college degree.

Now we can stop talking in riddles and generalities and start doing some actual work…college level schoolwork.

Please forgive the metaphor, I did not mean to upset anyone.

Lay back down Steve and God bless your soul.

How long does it take to eat an elephant? – April 16, 2011

I’m almost finished eating this elephant but it’s not the first one I’ve tried to eat.  I first tried to eat an elephant after I graduated high school.  I moved to San Francisco and started eating but after five years I was only half finished and quit.

In the summer of 2008, I looked in the freezer and most of what was left over from that first elephant was freezer burn and no good.  So, basically had to start over.  I should be finished with this current pachyderm this summer.

If you add it all up, it will have taken me eight years to eat an elephant.  Not exactly a record but at least I can be excused from the table.

“I’ll never do that again…"

...or will I?

You have any elephant your freezer?

What does elephant taste like? - April 15, 2011

Wile E. Coyote says the reason he spends so much time chasing Road Runner is that every part of the bird tastes great; everything from caramel to cheddar cheese and even a double martini.

Well the elephant doesn’t taste like a road runner.  Sure every, now and then you find a chocolate truffle but just as often you find a piece that tastes like a vomit flavored Jelly Belly (yes they do exist).

Mostly the elephant tastes like broccoli, peas or some other vegetable, that you like a little, or not very much, but you know it is good for you.

If you are not prepared to eat broccoli for every meal for awhile and maybe even a long while…it might be best to save yourself the time, effort and money and wait until you are.

Next time I’ll talk about time. How long does it takes to each an elephant?

Please pass the Brussels sprouts, NOT!