Delta College – A Retrospective

Posted on April 30, 2009 by David

… Or, how to graduate community college in as little as 14 years!

The Beginning

I started my college journey before I even graduated from high school. The theory was that I would complete the easy courses and get them out of the way so that I could finish up early. I started with taking CIS-133, a basic computer class. Today, they teach you about this stuff:

Prepares the student for the on-going ethical, environmental, societal and global issues of technology. Presents computer concepts including input and output of data and how information is processed, stored, and shared. Examines the purpose of networks, their technologies, scopes, and connectivity issues. Gives major consideration to Internet technology and access emphasizing research, education, communication, e-commerce, and security. Provides an introduction to software engineering and the analysis and design of computer systems. Discusses computer platforms, architectures, and system software. Develops PC competencies and skills including file management, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation graphics, database, Internet, Web pages, and graphics.

Back in 1995, in the Midland off-campus center we used Microsoft Offce 4 on Microsoft Windows 3.1. This was before Microsoft went to the year numbering method for their software, of course. Printouts were handled by dot matrix printers, and done rather poorly at that. Key concepts included saving files, what a word processor is, and so forth. It’s a world of difference between the class I took and what it’s become.

Still, I was in school to get a degree in Computer Information Systems, CIS. This stuff was remedial at best. Because of my disinterest in the class, I only received a B+.

This class ended up being the only one I would take during high school.

The Early Years

After graduating High School in 1997, I began taking classes, starting with the basics: College Composition 1, Algebra, and C++ Programming. These would, I believed, be a good base to start at. I wasn’t going to school full time, which I later learned was a mistake. I intended to earn my Associates Degree and transfer to Saginaw Valley State University. Oddly for a CIS major, I aced College Comp and got C’s in both of my other courses. Perhaps this should have been where I decided to change my program, but I never did. Computers were what I loved, and I really intended to do whatever it took to get through the coursework.

Next semester, the fall of 1998, I began taking the next math class, skiing, a computer class called as/400 intro, and the next college composition class. I did reasonably well, except for intermediate algebra. This was another sign, perhaps, that I missed.

I continued. Throughout these first years I didn’t take college as seriously as I should have. That, combined with my part time status caused me not to make quick progress through my required courses. In 1999 I continued my poor math related scores. In 2000 it all fell completely apart.

The Bad Years

In 2000 I got a job at a .com, and had a schedule that varied. I had difficulty in keeping hours straight, and attending classes regularly. I massively bombed, and failed all my classes in the fall of 2000. It was very disheartening, but I didn’t worry about it too much since, after all, I had a job that I was happy to work at. My GPA fell to the lowest it had ever been, a 2.55. I still live with the mark these classes made on my transcript; I had neither the time to retake them, nor the capability to in one instance (the class is no longer offered).

So I dropped out. Not officially, of course – I just stopped going. Eventually my job disappeared, my marriage disappeared, and I became saddled with debt.

Every time I thought about college I would feel sick to my stomach. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that I would graduate from college when I was in high school. Things seemed beyond repair.

Jolene

Eventually I met my wife, and she had expressed a desire to go to school to get out of her current place of employment at some point in the future. I shared my feelings, how I felt like I had failed miserably and not lived up to my expectations. It was then that, with Jolene’s encouragement, I went back to school. Without her, where I am now would certainly not be possible. She helped fix me.

What would I do, though? I decided that perhaps working with computers alone was not for me. I looked at my skills, and what I enjoyed about running my own business. Strangely, the financial aspects were the most enjoyable. Something in accounting, then, would perhaps be good?

The Returning Student

I went to Delta and signed up again, and got my new ID card. I signed up for a science class, to fulfill a requirement for SVSU and a Intro to Accounting class.

It was strange to enter back into the classroom. I was considerably older than most of the students, which was dismaying in its own way.

I excelled at both classes. Since then, this has been what my transcript has looked like:

Course/Section and Title	Grade	Credits	CEUs

2	MGT-245 03 PRIN OF MANAGEMENT	A	3.00	09/WI
3	MUS-135 03 FUNDAMENT OF GUITAR			09/WI
4	OAT-152 03 BUSINESS COMMCTN II	A	3.00	09/WI
5	OAT-151 04 BUSINESS COMMCTN I	A-	3.00	08/FA
6	SPH-112W 06 FUND OF ORAL COMNCT	A	3.00	08/FA
7	ECN-222W 02 PRIN ECONOMICS II	A	4.00	08/FA
8	MTH-208W 03 ELEM STATISTICS	A-	3.00	08/FA
9	MGT-153W S3 INTRO TO BUSINESS	A-	3.00	08/SP
10	POL-103W 08 AMERICAN GOVERNMENT	A	3.00	08/WI
11	SPH-114W 03 INTERPRSNL COMMUNCT	A-	3.00	08/WI
12	ACC-212 03 PRIN OF ACCTG II	A	4.00	08/WI
13	MTH-160 01 CALC SOC & MGR SCI	B-	4.00	08/WI
14	LW-220W 01 LIFELONG WELLNESS	A-	1.00	08/WI
15	ACC-211 04 PRIN ACCOUNTING I	A-	4.00	07/FA
16	PSC-101 02 PHYSICAL SCIENCE I	A-	4.00	07/FA

There is no entry for Guitar yet, but I’m certain I’ve received an A. The GPA calculation since I’ve returned is a 3.755, which is quite a bit more impressive than the 2.55 I had previously. Cumulatively, it’s only raised me up to a 3.04 so far because of my other failed classes in 2000.

Perhaps most entertainingly, one of the E’s I recieved in 2000 was in Accounting!

Highlights

There’ve been some interesting times in class I’ve had since I’ve returned

The Mr-Wizard esque science teacher in my first semester returning
Nearly turning an E in accounting into an A (it would’ve been more satisfying than the A-)
Taking the required 1 credit gym class and having to run a mile lap with a bunch of 18 year olds. Getting lapped.
Taking two speech classes, since I had decided to go to CMU, which requires a different class than SVSU
Calculus is still hard. Statistics is much easier and more interesting. I’m glad to be done with both, at lease insofar as classes are concerned
Almost acing Intermediate/Managerial accounting. I was 1 point shy of a perfect score.
Learning that adjunct professors don’t necessarily care about their classes.
Microeconomics is much more interesting than Macroeconomics.
I enjoy teachers that use beer instead of ‘widgets’.
Getting told that I couldn’t leave my Business Communication class without penalty to my grade, even after I had completed all of the classwork and homework due for the next period – with nothing scheduled for the rest of the class except for working on, you guessed it, the homework that was due. Being spoken to as though I were in middle school.

Things I’ve Learned

I perform best when I have a lot of things on my plate. I do better with a full schedule than a mostly empty one.
Organization is the key to A’s
Note-taking on the laptop is key. I cannot read my own writing otherwise.
I am apparently very effective at public speaking, regardless of my distaste for it.
The teaching staff, for the most part, has been excellent. The support staff, for the most part, has been terrible

Graduation

Tomorrow I will be graduating from Delta. It’s been a part of my life for so long. Strangely, I will have one more ‘make-up’ class this summer over the internet, so I don’t waste time at CMU taking it. The only thing I know is that I cannot stop. We must continue to push our boundaries to continue to grow. I am slowly turning into the person that I want to become.

Week 11 Begins

Posted on April 25, 2009 by David

Of most importance this week is that the baby is visibly becoming a girl or a boy. We all know how I feel about that. The most critical parts of the development are now over, but there’s still of course a lot to go.

The baby can now move and kick, and is exploring the new world. The uterus is still cathedral-large to the fetus, so it’s not able to be felt. It probably doesn’t echo either. Some places note that the fetus begins at this point to explore the fact that it has a mouth with it’s hands.

The ears are moving up to where they belong. This is important, as they need to be in place for quality music to start getting pumped in. No, I’m not joking.

It will start developing a swallow reflex as well, and continues to develop the taste buds. Some people believe this is the first time period in which the sense of flavors are developed. As I write this, I think back to last night when Jolene ate peanut butter flavored snack mix. It’s either going to love or hate that stuff. We’ll see.

Morning sickness seems to be gone for the most part, but super-human smelling ability isn’t. I swear, the woman can smell the fact that I’ve had onions for lunch before she hits the driveway.

A Musical Summer

Posted on April 19, 2009 by David

… is about to kick off!

Post-Rock

This next week we’re going to go see one of my favorite post-rock bands at a Mount Pleasant location that has lots of indie bands playing.

The band whose album art is pictured above, The Appleseed Cast, is the headliner for a bunch of other experimental bands that aren’t really well known. Local acts, as well. I have no idea how good they will be.

They’re kind of an experimental band that doesn’t have a lot of lyrics or singing to their songs. “Post-rock” is basically using rock instruments, such as guitars and the like, for arrangements of music not usually found in rock-n-roll. As such, the sound that these bands produce is often varied and not easy to categorize.

Jolene is not looking forward to this. In all instances I’ve played post-rock for her, she’s expressed a distaste for it. She’s going with me, though, so we’ll see how she feels afterwards.

Metal

We’re going to go see the “Music as a Weapon” tour in Detroit on May 2. Disturbed, Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, and Chimaira will all be playing there. Jolene agreed to go, primarily, I think because of her coworkers, who are also going with us in a group.

While I don’t listen to “Metal” as I did when I was younger, I still enjoy it quite a bit. Of the above, I’m probably most excited about listening to Lacuna Coil. They fall more into the “Rock” category and are basically known for their melodic singing by their female singer. This is in contrast to a lot of their contemporaries who scream a lot. If you know the band Evanescence, this band is pretty similar, but is a bit older and more developed. Their new album has just come out and it’s pretty good sounding.

Disturbed is the headliner, I believe. I’m looking forward to seeing them as well, though their brand of music is pretty generic insofar as “Metal” goes. Very FM radio friendly.

I haven’t heard much of Killswitch Engage nor Chimaira. I will rectify this before attending, of course.

Jolene is not looking forward to this. She’ll have fun since her coworkers are going as well, though. I’m sure of it. This is probably going to be terribly loud. Nothing can beat Ted Nugent when I saw him in loudness though. He opened for Metallica when I saw them on New Years Eve, 1999. Things were already loud as a regular heavy metal concert, and then Teddy started playing. His guitar was turned up to 11, and it was all that you could hear. The speakers were going so loud they were clipping and giving horrifying feedback at times as well. Ted Nugent was the worst ‘band’ I’ve ever seen. At least this won’t be Ted Nugent, I tell her!

Indie/Folk Rock

We’ll be going to Columbus, OH and spending the night there to see The Decemberists live in concert. It will be the third Decemberists concert we have attended. This is what I’m looking forward to most, I think. This is by far my favorite band recently – the songwriting is fantastic, the instrumentation is strange and wonderful.

They’ll be playing their new album in it’s entirety at the concert – The Hazards of Love. Most of The Decemberist’s songs tell a story. For their latest album, the entire album tells a story in sort of a “rock opera”. Album of the year, for sure – at least by my measurement.

Opening for The Decemberists will be a band called “Blind Pilot”. I have no real knowledge or information on this band, other than that they’re from Portland, Oregon and the picture above is what they look like. A lot of my new favorite bands are from that city for some reason (The Decemberists, The Builders and the Butchers, The Thermals… hey, I’m noticing a pattern here… is it a prerequisite for Portland bands to have a “The” in the title? Should this band be called “THE Blind Pilot”?).

Anyway, I hope they’ll be entertaining. We have quite a summer lined up – there are tons of more bands that I want to see live. Maybe I’ll get the chance soon.

Week 10 Begins

Posted on April 17, 2009 by David

Jeesh, it’s going by fast.

During week 10 the tail has completely dissapeared from the fetus. Which is a very important thing, lest we name our child ‘fido’ or similar.

The baby websites all make reference to the fetus being as big as a plum right now. I don’t like plums. I don’t eat them. Still, plum this, plum that…

All I can imagine is one of these inside of Jolene at this time:

Course, it’s supposed to look more like this, a fetus at 10 weeks:

I guess the head kinda looks like a little plum. I dunno.

It has taste buds now, too. Which means I guess that it’s going to develop it’s love of peanut butter.

The websites also say that there will be mood swings and such at this time because of changing hormones. In the wife, not the fetus. I haven’t noticed any yet. Jolene is, as always, just delightful. She’s still exhausted all the time though. Oh, and they say her gums might bleed. I’m not sure why. Are babies a leading cause of the gum disease gingivitis?

The $175 Central Michigan University Tour

Posted on April 17, 2009 by David

… It wasn’t actually a tour, per-se. I guess the tour of the campus itself is for first year students only. Go figure! The $175 that was paid was the new student fee..

The Arrival

I got the beasties off to school early today to get a head start on going to CMU to get my orientation. I had no clue as to what is actually going to happen, so I was a bit nervous. What kind of schedule was I going to be looking at? I stopped at a gas station, and the only source of protein that was non-dairy that they had were nuts and beef jerky. Not really the ideal breakfast, but I didn’t want to eat anything heavy before going in anyway.

I got to the school 20 minutes early and parked in lot 8, the lot that’s free on orientation days. I got an excellent parking space, having gotten there nice and early. I walked to Bovee community center, where the orientation was to be held. I knew right where to go, because of my 50 cent trip earlier this week.

I got to the lobby where I registered, put on a name badge, and went to the ‘Maroon Room’ where the Business students were congregating. I registered again with the Business Advisors and obtained my packet of information. The ladies that registered me seemed to be knowledgeable about my needs. I sat down and chit-chatted with the people next to me as they took their seats, named Amber and Chris. We talked about our pre-transfer college experiences and such.

The Orientation Begins

The two ladies introduced themselves as Annie and Karen. Both were very nice and began to explain the transfer process. The first half of the orientation was about the university program. Essentially, the general education portions that everybody in the room was required to take. I had satisfied all of these at Delta college, or so I had thought. I looked at the papers given to me – I was missing one course from the ‘third semester’ block. The class outlined was Business Law, one which I had not taken in the past except in high school. I double checked the MACRAO transfer sheet that I had printed off, and it didn’t list any such class.

So, I was set to take that class at CMU, amongst my other classes. Not a problem. Most of the other information they were talking about didn’t apply to me at this point, since I had taken all the math I needed, all the rest of the prerequisites and so forth.

The ID Office

So we went down to the ID office and waited to get our pictures taken. A woman came out to the hallway and told us to line up against the wall. Visions of elementary school danced in my head. She proceeded to pull out a massive CMU ID card and show us the card. It doubles as an atm card, gets you into the library, and so on. All I could think about is that the form of ID that she had over her head would be perfect if Publishers Clearing House ever came to my house with a gigantic check. All I’d need is a gigantic pen to endorse it with and I’d have it all.

Thankfully I was at the beginning of the line, so I got my picture taken nearly right away. This gave me time to loiter around the doughnut table they had setup for us in the hallway by the conference rooms.

Orientation Continues

Everyone got back to the conference room and the ladies continued talking. The information became much more interesting as they delved into topics that were relevant to my interests. Then they mentioned the draft of the schedule that they had put in everyone’s packets.

The what?

There was no draft schedule in my packet.

I raised my hand – they knew of the lapse of data in my packet, and it was something that they were working on just prior to us arriving. Apparently there were two classes, my second accounting class and my introduction to computer information systems class that needed to be substituted for CMU-style classes of a similar type. Not a problem, they assured me, their assistant would be around later with the information.

I looked at the rest of the information. There were 4 classes that I needed to take all in a row, all at once, as a block. These were required for the degree. The students in each block will be the same in every class – there were 7 blocks, of which only classes in block 5 were available, so that’s what I was assigned.

Grawn Hall

We went over as a group to Grawn Hall, where the majority of my classes will be taken. On the way we stopped to pick up our student ID’s. It’s not a horrible picture, but I wish I had removed my hoodie before getting the picture taken.

We arrived at the Hall and went to a special room that the Business administration staff had reserved for the Business students. The rest of the groups were in the computer lab area, and there were apparently too many transfer students for computers in this area. I guess this was the privilege to having the orientation continue in the building that services my specialization.

I opened the portal and logged on to my account. I quickly went to the schedule, and got it moments before the assistant handed me the paper. This is what it read:

Mondays and Wednesdays:

Business Law – 10:00am – 10:50am
Integrated Financial Analysis – 5:00pm-6:15pm

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

Integrated Supply Chain Management – 3:30pm-4:45pm
Integrated Marketing Management – 5:00pm-6:15pm

Thursday Only:

Integrated Business Experience – 7:00pm-8:50pm

Fridays:

Business Law – 10:00am – 10:50am

Needless to say, I would rather have earlier classes. And I didn’t relish the idea of driving 80 minutes on Fridays for a 50 minute class. I accepted the schedule as-is, and filled out a form with a request to basically ‘waitlist’ for the earlier classes. If I could get into an earlier block, I would be able to have earlier classes and have nights free. I had no answer for business law at the time.

Meeting the Professor

One of the questions I had was about a policy that the college had. If you had over 56 credits, you have to have a major declared. If you don’t, your account will be put on ‘hold’ and no grades will be given for any classes you take. This is the same type of hold that they put on grades if you don’t pay parking tickets or whatever.

I asked the advisors if I should go and sign for my Accounting Information Systems major now, since I was already on campus. They weren’t quite sure but said that if I’d like to try, I could go do it that day. I simply didn’t want to have any troubles with administrative issues once I started.

I didn’t figure I’d meet anyone but the advisers today, so I didn’t dress to impress. They specifically state to dress casually and comfortably in the orientation information. While I didn’t dress down quite so far as, say, the girl that sat in front of me where you could see her bra and underwear, I didn’t feel particularly well made up in my t-shirt and jeans. I was surprised when I was told to meet with a PhD that teaches in the department, not an assistant that handles paperwork.

I walked to the office and knocked at the door. I introduced myself to a Dr. Bromley. This, by far, was the best part of the day. He got the paperwork necessary to get signed to major in Accounting Information Systems. We talked about business, why I was there, my job, and so forth. He talked about the numbers of people that are graduated in this program each year. If I had problems with registration, or issues with financial aid or whatever he said to call him and he’d help. He said I should make an appointment to have another meeting with him, and I very surely will. I was very impressed.

Lunch

I had a coupon for some free food, so I went to the cafeteria and selected a grill item. The cafeteria is very nice. I ordered a sirloin burger with a large pop, and it was as good as an applebees burger at the least. It wasn’t that pricey either, at $6 for the meal. I bet I’ll spend a bunch of money eating there.

At Home

I had called Jolene to tell her the schedule and everything, and she mentioned that I should maybe try to get the Business Law class taken care of via Delta or another community college. I went home and searched for the equivalency, and registered for the class. It’s an online class, which extends through vacation. There will be times when I will have to do a little homework on vacation, but I’m not worried about this in the least. It’s a 1 month, accelerated class. I then called the advisers at CMU to ensure that what I was doing was ok, and they said it was.

This put me at a problematic point, however. With the Business Law class at CMU dropped, I would only have 11 credits. You need 12 credits to be fulltime at college, and receive aid for fulltime attendance.

I chose a political class, since one of my ideas for a minor is to minor in political science. The idea is that accountants work in the government as well, so it could be beneficial to my job prospects My new schedule is as follows:

Mondays and Wednesdays:

Judicial Process and Politics – 2:00pm-3:15pm
Integrated Financial Analysis – 5:00pm-6:15pm

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

Integrated Supply Chain Management – 3:30pm-4:45pm
Integrated Marketing Management – 5:00pm-6:15pm

Thursday Only:

Integrated Business Experience – 7:00pm-8:50pm

Fridays:

Nothing! Nada! Zip!

What’s Left

I need to arrange for parking on the campus with my car. I also need to pick up books for my Delta College Business Law class. I need to call the advisers at CMU again to tell them to toss the waitlist thing in the circular bin. If they do end up switching me it would knock the Judicial class off the list of possibilities, since I can’t be two places at once. Everything else seems to be taken care of.

It’s been a good day.

The 50 Cent Central Michigan University Tour

Posted on April 14, 2009 by David

central michigan.jpg I have transfer student orientation for my admission into Central Michigan University this Friday. I decided that I’d like to go on a pre-visit tour to the campus to see what it’s like, before the official tour. So, I let my inner control freak out and headed to Mount Pleasant today.

The drive there was 40 minutes. It’s not that far away, but there’s a number of red lights on the main road there and you have to go slow to watch out for cyclists and the like while at the college. It’s only some 28 miles away.

I got to the college and scouted out a metered parking place. You have to pay for the parking at CMU, and if you don’t you have to park in a metered spot. There are relatively few metered spots, but I found one near the admissions center, near the middle of the campus. I deposited 50 cents into the meter, enough for an hours walk. I figured that by that time I’d be either cold or wet, given the weather.

Almost to the college I realized that I did not bring my map of the campus. This was a major detriment – so I started my tour off at the book store. If any place had a map, I figured the book store would be it.

The bookstore had course schedules for the current semester, which conveniently had a map in it. I didn’t take any pictures from the inside, but the book store had 2 levels. The first level you see when you get in is filled with clothing and other college supplies. All the books are in the basement. Each level is about as big as the Delta College Bookstore in its entirety. I snooped around but didn’t buy anything – I figured I’d have time to do that on Friday after orientation if I chose.

Attached to the book store is the Bovee university center. Not much picture-worthy here, it’s mostly offices for student services. This is where I’ll start my day Friday. They do have some interesting dining facilities in this building though, including Quiznos subs, Big Apple Bagel, Starbucks, a full food court, and other places to eat. The top level of the building is all conference rooms and such.

Armed with a map, I proceeded to the next point of interest – the library.

This library was HUGE. A multi-story building with a running exhibit inside of the history of the printing press, immaculately maintained. This was around lunchtime and there were lots of people inside at the many study areas. I went up several stories, and found a likely place for me to camp out if I have to wait in between classes. It’s close proximity to the food area of Bovee makes this a good place if I need to eat something as well.

I walked past Warriner hall, the admissions building and where all my student records are kept to my next destination. Warriner hall dates back to the 1920′s. When I was here last to speak to an admissions advisor I walked around the building – it’s very 1920′s in design, and quite cool. I guess it was built on the burned down remains of the first CMU building that stood here.

Since I’ll be going to the College of Business for my major, I walked to where I will likely be spending a lot of time where those classes are taught, Grawn Hall:

I entered the building and checked out the first level. Most of the class sizes seemed to be about 25-30 students – I did not take pictures as there were lectures and such going on. This made me feel better though, knowing the area that I’ll likely be in and the types of class sizes I can expect. Some of the rooms were larger lecture-style rooms but the majority were of the same size that I’m used to currently.

Right across from Grawn Hall is a malt shop. The campus is peppered with little places to eat and buy stuff

Also of interesting note, everywhere you walked there were things written on the ground in chalk. Here’s one outside of the library

Some of them, like the one above, were for events. Others were just random words or sayings. Occasionally I’d run into some other strangeness as I walked my figure-eight around the north part of campus, like these two people who were fencing in the walkway

I unfortunately didn’t get a close-up of the swashbuckling action. I didn’t want to seem all touristy, ya know?

Continuing on, I saw the music building – which was a massive structure, and very artfully crafted as you’d expect a center for the arts to be.

Nearby was this building, which was still under construction. It was slightly castle-like, and is apparently going to be used for educational services. The pricetag was still in front, it cost 50 million to build.

At this point my hour of meter time was almost up, so I went back to the car. When I got there, the meter read this:

Just in time. Although I don’t think they’re strict enforcers of the meters. The car next to mine was on an expired meter when I got there and still was sitting there sans-ticket when I got back. No, it didn’t have a parking decal either.

So I hopped in my car and drove around the south part of campus, which houses all the sports-related stuff. I’m not a big fan of sports, but it was interesting to see anyway.

The band practice field:

Football and Baseball fields:

I wrapped up my excursion by driving around the student housing section, called the ‘towers’. Of interest is the miniature 7-11 tucked in next door to it. I image it fuels a lot of the caffeine-related study sessions for the tower students

Also of note – people in this area (residents of the towers?) drive like maniacs. Every person in this vicinity seemed to think they were in Mad Max – since it was lunch time, I got a good sampling of the residents there.

All-in-all, it was a good visit. I got to have lunch with Jolene, and got to tour the campus on my own time. I must not forget a map next time though, it’d be for sure easy for a directionally challenged person such as myself to get lost.

New ‘netbook’

Posted on April 11, 2009 by David

Madalyn got a new ‘netbook’ for her birthday yesterday – a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. She bought it with her birthday money and money that she has been saving up. It’s a really, really small notebook. Here it is next to my laptop for a size comparison:

The Netbook

It’s tiny, and perfectly sized for 12 year old girl hands. My hands, on the other hand, had considerable trouble typing on it while using it. ‘.com’ would turn into ‘.cim’, with my fingers too fat to easily type on the small keyboard. I’m sure with time I would get used to it. I don’t think it would be workable for a note-taking device in college, as I’ve seen some people try.

It’s about as powerful as a ‘last generation’ laptop, and has the following:

1.6 gigahertz intel ‘atom’ processor

8 gigabytes of memory

1 gigabyte of ram

9 inch screen

Windows XP

WiFi enabled

SDCard memory expansion slot

4 hour battery life

It has no hard drive – it uses flash memory, like a smaller iPod. Given all that I expected it to have more than a 4 hour battery life, but I’m not complaining too much. $249 for this computer at sams club, it’s more than acceptable.

The Cleanup

What wasn’t so acceptable was the amount of garbage on the meager storage that this computer had. A full Windows XP disc image of drivers, which would be useful if she were replacing components of the computer (not really possible), copies of other drivers, a full mccaffe internet security installation, Microsoft Works, Powerpoint 2007 Viewer, and so on… Dell could have made my job easier by using a more updated windows installation and less cruft.

4 hours of updates, deinstallation of the assorted crud, and installation of smaller, better programs to handle her homework and entertainment needs, and she should be set to go. Her first full day of usage is still upcoming – the poor girl had to spend hours looking at it sitting in its box at sams and then at lunch.

The She-Beastie

Of course, with her own computer comes more responsibility. The first major difference is that previously, we had a computer in her room with which we had to log her in to meter out internet usage. Being a fixed computer, we also had remote desktop viewing capabilities, so she and her brother knew that we would be able to ‘see’ what they were doing despite it being in a different room.

I could install a remote desktop application on the netbook, but we decided against it. She’s going to need to develop her privacy, after all. The netbook will sit on moms desk so that it doesn’t get used prior to homework or other obligations, much like the desktop comptuer is now.

She’s been taught fairly well about what to do and what not to do while online. We’ll see how things go.

Week 9 begins

Posted on April 11, 2009 by David

So week 9 began yesterday. Of important note, apparently the fetus had a tail up till this point which is now gone.

Also, baby websites show that the fetus is a convenient size for snacking

It’s about an inch long, and the page that I retrieved this image from notes that it’ about the size of large grape. It’s a very strange way of showing the size, with the fingers like that. I can only assume the writer was hungry when they made that page.

It’s also apparently an arsonist, which could be helpful in us getting a new house

There are also miniature teeth, a heart was finally formed, and there are now supposed to be earlobes.

This guy isn’t really as important to Jolene anymore;

the peanut butter cravings seem to have subsided somewhat. Although she is sleeping a lot now. I guess that tail dissolving business is tiring.

Michigan State Police respond to my query

Posted on April 8, 2009 by David

So I was riding through Bay City one day and we passed the Michigan State Police post there. As I gazed over the cars, the most striking thing was that each of them had a ‘fin’ on the hood:

I was curious what it’s function was, so I wrote an email to the state police through their website:

I have a question that’s more of a trivia question than anything else.

What is that placard/fin thing on the front of the car for? The one that says ‘state STOP police’. I’ve never seen it used, and it seems like if you
were close enough to read it you’d be already stopped anyway. Most traffic stops I’ve seen would render the thing not visible behind the cabin of the car.

Does it have a name? How is this used? Is it there mostly for tradition?

So I got a response today!

Hi David.

The MSP Webmaster forwarded your message to me.

I’m a retired MSP inspector, and serve as the department’s “unofficial” historian. I now work as an outreach specialist in the MSU School of Criminal Justice. By the way, my wife is from Midland–her Dad worked for Dow many years ago.

I get a couple of questions a year on this specific issue about the patrol cars.

The “STOP–State Police” placard on the hood of MSP patrol cars goes back to the late 1920s when the department used Harley-Davidson motorycles on patrol, just before we bought our first fleet of marked patrol cars (Ford Model A’s in 1929).

The department installed small “State Police” placards atop the front fenders on the bikes so troopers making side traffic stops (the bikes had no
red lights) could pull up next to the driver door of a car, and the motorist could see the State Police sign and pull over. The MSP uniforms were a very plain black design at the time, so even the uniform did not make it obvious that it was a trooper. The MSP quit using motorcycles in 1942, during the war, but brought them back on a limited basis in Detroit in about 1993.

We didn’t use placards on patrol car hoods until 1954 when they switched from the old black color to the bright new blue color and gold door shield with lighting bolts still used on MSP patrol cars today.

At that time, since MSP still did blockades (pulling across predesignated places on major roads to stop and check cars following major crimes), and also did side patrol stops with the cars, they thought the plexiglass “STOP–State Police” placards would help make the cars more visible and
identifiable as MSP cars. The placards are also lighted in the mounts at each end, to improve their visibility at night, and help identify the cars
when troopers would pull into someone’s driveway at night on an investigation. We troopers often did not turn them on, because we also
feared it made us a better target!

MSP quit teaching side stops to troopers and ended the blockade system as impractical back in the early 1980s. Thus, the placards really have no
practical use today. The head of the state Motor Transport garage called me about ten years ago asking for my support to propose to MSP that they drop the placards. They are very expensive to buy and install, and a real pain for the mechanics who have to prep new patrol cars.

I raised this issue with HQ, but was told politely to forget about it–theyhad become a traditional feature of MSP patrol cars, and so they would stay!

Phil Schertzing, Ph.D.
School of Criminal Justice
Michigan State University

This was an AMAZING answer! I am shocked at the effort put in by Dr. Schertzing in formulating this response. Now that I know the story behind the placards, I love the fact that they’re on the cars to this day. It’s like an appendix for their cruisers or something!

A couple more pictures of some most excellent placards – a 1958 chevy and a new dodge charger:

Simply splendid.

Week 8 Starts

Posted on April 3, 2009 by David

So today marks the beginning of week 8. Not a lot has happened, we’ve been pretty busy with other things in our lives.

Apparently at this point the fetus is as big as a lima bean. Maybe a pinto bean.

In addition, it apparently likes to do that Macarena.

All very cool. I did, however, order a shirt for Jolene for our trip to Columbus to see the Decemberists this summer. I saw this in their store and, well, it ended up getting bought:

Click the image for more detail, of course. It’s a very cool little ‘onesie’

I figure everyone else is getting shirts for the concert. That and we’ll have the hardest indie-rockin’ baby around if we have them dressed in this.

The Cooke Family Website

Monthly Archives: April 2009