The ladder theory gives a pretty reasonable explanation at the social dynamics between men and women and how their relationships with each other work.
On the other hand, this counterintuitive article has guys everywhere reassessing their approach to women.
I'll stick to my own game and won't be letting anyone cramping my style.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sick Like No Tomorrow
I have been ill for close to a week now, today would be day 6. But that's not the reason why I haven't been updating this blog. My schedule and activities really took off and I'm trying my best to juggle my life, especially since I've been sick. I'm usually a healthy person, leading a healthy lifestyle but lacking the 30 minutes to an hour exercise a day. Whenever I get sick, I gargle saltwater frequently and chug orange juice. Normally I bounce back within a few days, but this time, the first time I've been sick in college, it's really hit me hard. Before I could take a step back from everything and just focus on recovering, but in college everything goes on with or without you and you need to keep up just to prevent yourself from falling behind.
So now I'm lying in my dorm bed sipping on some tea (which surprisingly does help with the illness) and doing some work to stay caught up with my classes. I decided not to go to my GE classes but I know I will need to attend my chemistry class because competition in intense in that class and it's really hard to make up for not being in lecture. On the positive side, I aced my online chemistry quiz yesterday while having coughing fits and not really understand the material from lectures. I thought I had did fairly decently on the quiz before submitting, but even I was surprised when the system reported that I had scored 100%. Here's to magically knowing all the right answers.
Still, I wish I could get rid of this illness, even if it's an excuse to be comfortable all the time and carry around a tissue box. People give me odd looks when I have my tissue box in my arm, but they ask for me for a tissue when they need to sneeze. Maybe I should do everyone a favor and wear a hospital style face mask to class. But ironically, there's a double standard for wearing a face mask in public: if you do wear it, you can still interact other people but you're protecting them by not infecting them, but once other people see you with the mask they will try to ostracize you to prevent themselves from getting sick. If you don't wear it and cough or sneeze, people think you're not being courteous and shielding yourself away from other people.
Midterms next week. This fun is never done.
So now I'm lying in my dorm bed sipping on some tea (which surprisingly does help with the illness) and doing some work to stay caught up with my classes. I decided not to go to my GE classes but I know I will need to attend my chemistry class because competition in intense in that class and it's really hard to make up for not being in lecture. On the positive side, I aced my online chemistry quiz yesterday while having coughing fits and not really understand the material from lectures. I thought I had did fairly decently on the quiz before submitting, but even I was surprised when the system reported that I had scored 100%. Here's to magically knowing all the right answers.
Still, I wish I could get rid of this illness, even if it's an excuse to be comfortable all the time and carry around a tissue box. People give me odd looks when I have my tissue box in my arm, but they ask for me for a tissue when they need to sneeze. Maybe I should do everyone a favor and wear a hospital style face mask to class. But ironically, there's a double standard for wearing a face mask in public: if you do wear it, you can still interact other people but you're protecting them by not infecting them, but once other people see you with the mask they will try to ostracize you to prevent themselves from getting sick. If you don't wear it and cough or sneeze, people think you're not being courteous and shielding yourself away from other people.
Midterms next week. This fun is never done.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Photo Journal
http://picasaweb.google.com/victor.sk.lin
I have an interest in photography and photo journalism and will start to keep a running photo journal. Since I believe candid photos capture the essence of life better than posed photos, having a camera at the scene of a photo worthy moment is crucial. Unfortunately, I already have a number of devices on me on a day to day basis and the only one that has a camera is my LG Vu CU920, with a 2.0 megapixel camera without flash. I won't let that be my excuse for poor pictures because there are amazing works of photography taken by iPhones on the Internet.
I have an interest in photography and photo journalism and will start to keep a running photo journal. Since I believe candid photos capture the essence of life better than posed photos, having a camera at the scene of a photo worthy moment is crucial. Unfortunately, I already have a number of devices on me on a day to day basis and the only one that has a camera is my LG Vu CU920, with a 2.0 megapixel camera without flash. I won't let that be my excuse for poor pictures because there are amazing works of photography taken by iPhones on the Internet.
Never Become a Leader
I often get asked the question "do you want to become a leader in your field?" Everyone else in the room raises their hand, so out of fear of exclusion, I do too. But I think I would make a horrible leader and here's why.
This is one of my grand plans if I ever become the leader of a nation:
I would put "those who could use some exercise", to be politically correct, on machines that generate electricity, such as elliptical bikes. Due compensation will be paid to the participants. If these machines are implemented on a large scale in the same facility in close proximity to homes and businesses, this would cut the demand for energy while providing a source of renewable energy. Jobs would be created and money would circulate through the economy. Physical fitness in the general population will improve and health problems will decrease.
Yeah, I should never become a leader.
This is one of my grand plans if I ever become the leader of a nation:
I would put "those who could use some exercise", to be politically correct, on machines that generate electricity, such as elliptical bikes. Due compensation will be paid to the participants. If these machines are implemented on a large scale in the same facility in close proximity to homes and businesses, this would cut the demand for energy while providing a source of renewable energy. Jobs would be created and money would circulate through the economy. Physical fitness in the general population will improve and health problems will decrease.
Yeah, I should never become a leader.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Fathers, Be Good to your Daughters (because you have to)
"A bundle of joy" is an idiomatic expression in English that means a newborn baby, implying that the baby is a bundle that will bring joy to his or her parents and all those around him or her. But nonetheless, the baby will keep his or her parents up, go through potty training, throw tantrums, go through a rebellious teen phase, suck tens of thousands of dollars towards a "college education", and ultimately visit his or her parents once in a while to beg for money. This is typical of both children of both genders, but what is the difference between the two?
It turns out, there's a BIG difference between raising a daughter and raising a son. I have extensive child care taking experience but zero parenting knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong if any parent out there is reading this. Keep in mind that these are just sweeping generalizations and there are obvious exceptions to the rule.
Males, and by extension sons, are generally introverts and keep to themselves. They're emotionally independent and dislike showing affection unless it's with their partner. Hygiene and shopping for new clothes are kept at a minimum, whatever will please the parentals and the ladies. Usually their biggest expenses of their parents' money will be cars, computers, and big purchases.
Compare that to females, otherwise known as daughters to their parents. They're very in touch with their emotions and can be very "demonstrative" about it. Affection is common with anybody close to them, may it be their family members, close friends, or their significant others. Hygiene is of utmost importance, not to mention spending nearly an hour just to shower, put on make up, do the hair, etc. Shopping, for some unknown reason, is a widely popular pastime for all females. Their biggest expenses happen to be on numerous small items in comparison to the boys, such as various bags of clothes, accessories, make up, etc. Generally speaking, it's much easier to control a son from spending a large sum of money at once than it is to control a daughter from spending numerous sums of money that add up to a long credit card bill.
The actual parenting facet of raising a child also differs for the genders. Sons, for the most part, can be left alone to discover the world on his own. Occasionally you might have to bail him out of jail and give him a stern talking to or perhaps ground him to teach him a lesson. And then there's the awkward sex talk. But for girls, parents have to worry about the sex issue on a completely different level. Fathers have to worry about their daughters showing too much skin, staying out too late with her "high school boyfriend" who always has a five o'clock shadow and rides a motorcycle, and whether or not she'll ever tell him that she's pregnant.
In short, I hope my guys will only carry the Y chromosome. I'll still love any daughters if I do end up having children, but I'll lose even more hours of sleep.
It turns out, there's a BIG difference between raising a daughter and raising a son. I have extensive child care taking experience but zero parenting knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong if any parent out there is reading this. Keep in mind that these are just sweeping generalizations and there are obvious exceptions to the rule.
Males, and by extension sons, are generally introverts and keep to themselves. They're emotionally independent and dislike showing affection unless it's with their partner. Hygiene and shopping for new clothes are kept at a minimum, whatever will please the parentals and the ladies. Usually their biggest expenses of their parents' money will be cars, computers, and big purchases.
Compare that to females, otherwise known as daughters to their parents. They're very in touch with their emotions and can be very "demonstrative" about it. Affection is common with anybody close to them, may it be their family members, close friends, or their significant others. Hygiene is of utmost importance, not to mention spending nearly an hour just to shower, put on make up, do the hair, etc. Shopping, for some unknown reason, is a widely popular pastime for all females. Their biggest expenses happen to be on numerous small items in comparison to the boys, such as various bags of clothes, accessories, make up, etc. Generally speaking, it's much easier to control a son from spending a large sum of money at once than it is to control a daughter from spending numerous sums of money that add up to a long credit card bill.
The actual parenting facet of raising a child also differs for the genders. Sons, for the most part, can be left alone to discover the world on his own. Occasionally you might have to bail him out of jail and give him a stern talking to or perhaps ground him to teach him a lesson. And then there's the awkward sex talk. But for girls, parents have to worry about the sex issue on a completely different level. Fathers have to worry about their daughters showing too much skin, staying out too late with her "high school boyfriend" who always has a five o'clock shadow and rides a motorcycle, and whether or not she'll ever tell him that she's pregnant.
In short, I hope my guys will only carry the Y chromosome. I'll still love any daughters if I do end up having children, but I'll lose even more hours of sleep.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
I've succumbed to yet another facet of the Internet and signed up for Twitter. A class I'm taking, with 500 other classmates, is using Twitter to keep a log of our personal habits. Since I just started this blog, I might as well use Twitter for my shorter thoughts and this blog for my longer ones.
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gotlactose
#tech
follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gotlactose
#tech
"Does this dress make me look fat?"
No, not at all honey. It's your fat that makes you look fat.
Maybe this is why I'm single.
Maybe this is why I'm single.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Why Girls Like Pink (and Guys Don't)
I was reading an interesting infograph about obvious facts proved by science (found here on the fourth image), and apparently some people believe women are more attracted to pink than men are because they pick up on the red shades often found on ripe fruit and the skin of the opposing gender to read their body language.
Basically, the two deductions I've made from this article is that women are evolutionary inclined to be better at picking out fruit and subsequently cooking food and that men cannot read body language as well as women can. So the next time you women refuse to make a sandwich, remember that us men just can't help ourselves: we're genetically not as talented to make our own sandwich or read the body language of you women walking away with a stern look and crossed arms.
Basically, the two deductions I've made from this article is that women are evolutionary inclined to be better at picking out fruit and subsequently cooking food and that men cannot read body language as well as women can. So the next time you women refuse to make a sandwich, remember that us men just can't help ourselves: we're genetically not as talented to make our own sandwich or read the body language of you women walking away with a stern look and crossed arms.
Google Voice
An emerging product of the expanding line of free Google web apps is Google Voice. Currently in closed beta and can only be obtained via invite requests directly to Google, Google Voice is a new way of call forwarding.
A Google Voice user is assigned a regular telephone number, free of charge at the time of this writing. When people call this number, the Google Voice user can assign which phone numbers to forward that calls to. Say I want my parents to be able to reach me on my cell phone and my house phone. I just give them my Google Voice number and have them call that without having to worry about calling me on my house phone first before trying my cell phone because Google Voice will make both the house and cell phones ring. If I have a rather chatty girlfriend and she calls me on my house phone, I can tell Google Voice to reroute the call to my cell phone and she would never know the difference. Then I could just step out of the house and she can continue to prattle on about how her fight with her B.F.F. Jill.
Another feature of Google Voice is its free SMS service. Without having to pay for a texting service, Google Voice gives mobile users free texting that's extremely similar to regular texting. People simply text you by entering your Google Voice number and it'll show up. The downside is that Google Voice is not a traditional cell phone service provider, so you would not be able to use certain texting features that require you to input your cell phone service provider. Even if you don't want to use the Google Voice interface to text, you can also text by email and be notified of new texts with your Gmail email account.
Google Voice also records and transcribes any voicemails that come in. If I miss a call, Google Voice lets me know just like a regular cell phone would. However, the key difference is Google Voice can play back the voicemail as a MP3 file so I can easily hear it as many times as I want. It can also attempt to translate the speech to text so I can easily read the voicemail as I would hear it.
And all these services of Google Voice can be modified through any data-enabled phone or through the Google Voice website. There, users can have micromanage control of the greatest little detail of how Google Voice handles incoming phone calls: what time certain people can call you, customized greetings tailored to a particular contact or group of contacts, whether or not you want the system to screen your calls for you, which phones to ring at what times when a particular someone calls you, etc.
And most services is free. So far the only charges I have seen is for international calls.
For iPod touch/iPhone users: to truly mimic a real texting plan, have Google Voice forward SMS messages to your Gmail, then set up Gmail with a filter to forward all texts to your Textfree email address. The Textfree iPhone application has a lite version that is free of charge and supports free unlimited incoming texts. If you turn on push notifications for Textfree, any incoming Google Voice SMS will be routed to your textfree email address and provided that you have wifi or 3G access, you would get instant notification of new texts without having to check your email.
Update: A friend who followed my directions made me realized that Textfree only serves as an alert system. You cannot send out Google Voice text messages with Textfree. You would have to use the Google Voice website or reply the Google Voice email to respond.
A Google Voice user is assigned a regular telephone number, free of charge at the time of this writing. When people call this number, the Google Voice user can assign which phone numbers to forward that calls to. Say I want my parents to be able to reach me on my cell phone and my house phone. I just give them my Google Voice number and have them call that without having to worry about calling me on my house phone first before trying my cell phone because Google Voice will make both the house and cell phones ring. If I have a rather chatty girlfriend and she calls me on my house phone, I can tell Google Voice to reroute the call to my cell phone and she would never know the difference. Then I could just step out of the house and she can continue to prattle on about how her fight with her B.F.F. Jill.
Another feature of Google Voice is its free SMS service. Without having to pay for a texting service, Google Voice gives mobile users free texting that's extremely similar to regular texting. People simply text you by entering your Google Voice number and it'll show up. The downside is that Google Voice is not a traditional cell phone service provider, so you would not be able to use certain texting features that require you to input your cell phone service provider. Even if you don't want to use the Google Voice interface to text, you can also text by email and be notified of new texts with your Gmail email account.
Google Voice also records and transcribes any voicemails that come in. If I miss a call, Google Voice lets me know just like a regular cell phone would. However, the key difference is Google Voice can play back the voicemail as a MP3 file so I can easily hear it as many times as I want. It can also attempt to translate the speech to text so I can easily read the voicemail as I would hear it.
And all these services of Google Voice can be modified through any data-enabled phone or through the Google Voice website. There, users can have micromanage control of the greatest little detail of how Google Voice handles incoming phone calls: what time certain people can call you, customized greetings tailored to a particular contact or group of contacts, whether or not you want the system to screen your calls for you, which phones to ring at what times when a particular someone calls you, etc.
And most services is free. So far the only charges I have seen is for international calls.
For iPod touch/iPhone users: to truly mimic a real texting plan, have Google Voice forward SMS messages to your Gmail, then set up Gmail with a filter to forward all texts to your Textfree email address. The Textfree iPhone application has a lite version that is free of charge and supports free unlimited incoming texts. If you turn on push notifications for Textfree, any incoming Google Voice SMS will be routed to your textfree email address and provided that you have wifi or 3G access, you would get instant notification of new texts without having to check your email.
Update: A friend who followed my directions made me realized that Textfree only serves as an alert system. You cannot send out Google Voice text messages with Textfree. You would have to use the Google Voice website or reply the Google Voice email to respond.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Keeping TABS on Everything
When Internet Explorer dominated the browser wars, the user had to open a new window to see multiple websites in the same session. However, with the popularity of Mozilla Firefox and similar implementation of their concepts in Opera, Safari, and even IE7 onwards, tabs are here to stay. For those unfamiliar with the concept of tabs (I know of a few in the generation before me), each browser window can have multiple sites loaded and easily navigated between either on the tab menu bar on top of the website or by simply pressing and holding "ctrl" and "tab" (and "ctrl", "shift", and "tab" to navigate between tabs in the opposite order).
However, developers of Firefox add-ons (also known as extensions, plug-ins, etc.) have taken tabs another step further. With the tools I have found, I am able to monitor my Gmail, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and Google Reader while I browse the Internet and do my other activities on the computer. When a new email, text message, voicemail, or RSS article comes in, the tab's icon updates itself to reflect the number of unread items.
An example of my current set up in Firefox:
Install them in any order and ignore Firefox when it asks you to restart until you have installed all the add-ons. Then go ahead and restart Firefox. When you restart Firefox, you may notice some icons to be already tinted in orange. To get rid of this, right click on the tab and go to "PermaTabs" -> "Permanent Tab". That will let you close that tab. Go to the websites that you want to keep an eye on, such as Gmail. Once Gmail is fully loaded, repeat the same steps as you did to get rid of the orange tint. Then right click on the tab again and choose "Faviconize Tab" to make the tab as small as possible to clear up space on the tab menu bar.
Let me know if you have some issues or want the same functionality for Google Voice. I do not have an Apple computer to try this on, but this should also work on Mac OSX. Don't take my word for it, so your mileage may vary. Comment if it works in Mac OSX.
#tech
However, developers of Firefox add-ons (also known as extensions, plug-ins, etc.) have taken tabs another step further. With the tools I have found, I am able to monitor my Gmail, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and Google Reader while I browse the Internet and do my other activities on the computer. When a new email, text message, voicemail, or RSS article comes in, the tab's icon updates itself to reflect the number of unread items.
An example of my current set up in Firefox:
As you can see in this screenshot, my Gmail tab is focused on. If you're familiar with Firefox, you may notice that only my blog's tab is the normal size and the other four tabs are much smaller and have an orange tint to their background. That is because there are add-ons installed that allows the tabs to become permanent tabs (as distinguished from regular tabs by the orange tint), so that they're always there even when I close my windows and restart Firefox and it doesn't close when I try to X out of them, and "faviconized" to shorten their tab size. You might be able to notice a green numerical zero under the first tab, the Gmail tab. That signifies that there are zero unread messages in my gmail account. The following tab is for Google Voice, then Google Calendar, and finally Google Reader. Google Reader has this unread count functionality as well, as well as Google Voice.
If you're interested in setting this up, simply install all the extensions found here, compiled and partially written by Lifehacker's founding editor Gina Trapani:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collection/iconpermatabsInstall them in any order and ignore Firefox when it asks you to restart until you have installed all the add-ons. Then go ahead and restart Firefox. When you restart Firefox, you may notice some icons to be already tinted in orange. To get rid of this, right click on the tab and go to "PermaTabs" -> "Permanent Tab". That will let you close that tab. Go to the websites that you want to keep an eye on, such as Gmail. Once Gmail is fully loaded, repeat the same steps as you did to get rid of the orange tint. Then right click on the tab again and choose "Faviconize Tab" to make the tab as small as possible to clear up space on the tab menu bar.
Let me know if you have some issues or want the same functionality for Google Voice. I do not have an Apple computer to try this on, but this should also work on Mac OSX. Don't take my word for it, so your mileage may vary. Comment if it works in Mac OSX.
#tech
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"I Like Your Shoes"
Being a guy has its perks: there are never lines in the mens room, we don't bleed from between our legs on a monthly basis, and amongst a plethora of other benefits. Of course, being a guy has its downsides: any time you get physically close to a guy, you have to prevent yourself from doing anything that might seem homosexual, unless both dudes are homosexual. You never, ever talk while in the men's room, especially at the urinals. But what I'm getting at here is that our social interactions are really simple too. You do something wrong to another guy, you say you're sorry, then you guys go back to gaming or just chilling.
It's not the same with females.
A direct comparison with the perks of the guys shows a glaring list of disadvantages of being female. I wouldn't have the experience to comment on the advantages of being a female, other than the ability to have a poor attitude (the vernacular term would be "bitchy") and blame it on the monthly cycle. But in regards to social dynamics, female interactions can be tremendously more complicated than that of males and they tend to have more drama than their male counterparts. Something as trivial as hair can merit hours of attention and criticism. Buying clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery, etc. tends to be a favorite pastime for many women. And upon displaying an ensemble of purchased clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery and what have you, women often find themselves in situations where they complement each other's clothes, shoes, accessories, and jewelery.
"I like your bag, where did you get it?"
"Oh this old thing? ON SALE 40%"
"No way!"
There must be an underlying reason for this stark difference between male-male and female-female interactions. Is it because men tend to be social introverts, often found participating in alpha male situations to prove his worth to his peers and potential mates? Or is because women, as social extroverts in comparison to men, need to glorify inanimate objects on their persons to boost the self-esteem of the collective and to reaffirm their self-worth?
It's not the same with females.
A direct comparison with the perks of the guys shows a glaring list of disadvantages of being female. I wouldn't have the experience to comment on the advantages of being a female, other than the ability to have a poor attitude (the vernacular term would be "bitchy") and blame it on the monthly cycle. But in regards to social dynamics, female interactions can be tremendously more complicated than that of males and they tend to have more drama than their male counterparts. Something as trivial as hair can merit hours of attention and criticism. Buying clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery, etc. tends to be a favorite pastime for many women. And upon displaying an ensemble of purchased clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelery and what have you, women often find themselves in situations where they complement each other's clothes, shoes, accessories, and jewelery.
"I like your bag, where did you get it?"
"Oh this old thing? ON SALE 40%"
"No way!"
There must be an underlying reason for this stark difference between male-male and female-female interactions. Is it because men tend to be social introverts, often found participating in alpha male situations to prove his worth to his peers and potential mates? Or is because women, as social extroverts in comparison to men, need to glorify inanimate objects on their persons to boost the self-esteem of the collective and to reaffirm their self-worth?
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Not Another Failed Attempt
As you may or may not have noticed already, there is link to another website with the same name as this one: GotLactose. As an aspiring web designer, I coded that website by hand and relied on nothing but Internet guides and Microsoft notepad to write it. No fancy WYSIWYG programs (e.g. Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, etc.) and no copy and paste jobs from templates. That being said, it was a pain to update that website for blogging purposes. Instead, that website can be used to show off my amateur web design skills while I blog here.
And Blogger offers RSS feeds for their blogs. I'm an avid user of RSS feeds, so I got excited when I noticed that feature.
And Blogger offers RSS feeds for their blogs. I'm an avid user of RSS feeds, so I got excited when I noticed that feature.
The Akupo Monster
I forgot to mention that I ran an Avira AntiVir Personal virus scan on that computer and nothing malicious came up.
AOL and AIM rant
Another disappointed AOL customer.
Actually according to AOL, I'm not a paying customer. Therefore, I cannot get any customer support from them. For a few years in the past decade, I was a AOL dial up customer until I switched to broadband. Once broadband became cheap enough for most people to afford, AOL really went downhill. But AIM was still a faithful instant messaging service and I did not have any problems with it. Yet.
Again, for years I was faithfully using the official AIM client to use my screen name to talk to my contacts. However, once I found out that AIM was probably running adware, spyware, or any extraneous software along with their program I decided to jump ship. Going along with my open source software craze, I found Pidgin and have been happily using it since. It's a multi-protocol chat client, which I use to go on MSN, YIM, AIM, and for it to notify me of new Gmail email.
This setup of 4 different accounts has been operating fine for months. Given that Pidgin is free and open source, I am able to have patience and understanding in its limitations. Generally speaking, I can just Google any problems I have with Pidgin and resolve it myself. However, AIM started to go wonky today. I thought the problem was isolated to Pidgin, but AIM failed to work on Meebo, Gmail, and the iPod Touch AIM application. Therefore, I have reason to suspect that AOL is having problem with my screen name. My friends who I have asked have all reported no problems with their screen names and my alternative screen name works. Of course, I can't open a support ticket with AOL to resolve my issue because I'm not a paying customer.
I'm having AIM withdrawal.
Update: Good news everyone! My impatient rant paid off and I can sign back into AIM again! Let's cross our fingers and hope this doesn't happen again.
Actually according to AOL, I'm not a paying customer. Therefore, I cannot get any customer support from them. For a few years in the past decade, I was a AOL dial up customer until I switched to broadband. Once broadband became cheap enough for most people to afford, AOL really went downhill. But AIM was still a faithful instant messaging service and I did not have any problems with it. Yet.
Again, for years I was faithfully using the official AIM client to use my screen name to talk to my contacts. However, once I found out that AIM was probably running adware, spyware, or any extraneous software along with their program I decided to jump ship. Going along with my open source software craze, I found Pidgin and have been happily using it since. It's a multi-protocol chat client, which I use to go on MSN, YIM, AIM, and for it to notify me of new Gmail email.
This setup of 4 different accounts has been operating fine for months. Given that Pidgin is free and open source, I am able to have patience and understanding in its limitations. Generally speaking, I can just Google any problems I have with Pidgin and resolve it myself. However, AIM started to go wonky today. I thought the problem was isolated to Pidgin, but AIM failed to work on Meebo, Gmail, and the iPod Touch AIM application. Therefore, I have reason to suspect that AOL is having problem with my screen name. My friends who I have asked have all reported no problems with their screen names and my alternative screen name works. Of course, I can't open a support ticket with AOL to resolve my issue because I'm not a paying customer.
I'm having AIM withdrawal.
Update: Good news everyone! My impatient rant paid off and I can sign back into AIM again! Let's cross our fingers and hope this doesn't happen again.
Friday, October 2, 2009
End of First Week of College Classes
Today marks the end of my first formal week of college classes.
Back in high school, there was a bunch of hand holding and busy work in classes. Teachers would show students how to do every little task to the greatest detail, tell students when a draft of a paper was due so they have time to revise it, and do meaningless worksheets to reinforce the week's lesson. I will say that college has afforded me great freedom in time management: no more are strict time periods of classes, everything is based on your own schedule and is up to you the individual to decide how to spend that time. One professor of mine teaches out of his expensive paper bound textbook and I have heard from upperclassmen that the only material on the midterm and final exams come from that textbook only. This implies that lectures are a waste of time because from my experience, the professor just displays the same thing found in the textbook on the screen. Nonetheless, I will be a faithful student and attend all the lectures.
Back in high school, there was a bunch of hand holding and busy work in classes. Teachers would show students how to do every little task to the greatest detail, tell students when a draft of a paper was due so they have time to revise it, and do meaningless worksheets to reinforce the week's lesson. I will say that college has afforded me great freedom in time management: no more are strict time periods of classes, everything is based on your own schedule and is up to you the individual to decide how to spend that time. One professor of mine teaches out of his expensive paper bound textbook and I have heard from upperclassmen that the only material on the midterm and final exams come from that textbook only. This implies that lectures are a waste of time because from my experience, the professor just displays the same thing found in the textbook on the screen. Nonetheless, I will be a faithful student and attend all the lectures.
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