Deep Thoughts – Page 14 – lee-lawmaster.com

Amelia

Tuesday, October 13th 2009 at 8:30am. An angel was sent to us via mommy’s tummy. Her name: Amelia Josephine!

After Rachel’s last OB appointment, it was decided that she was rather large and it would be best for her to come here via C-section. Weighing 9 pounds, 9.8 ounces, she was rather large. It seems that isn’t a bad thing as I haven’t heard anything otherwise from either the OB or her pediatrician, Dr. Laughlin.

There were minimal issues with her birth, she had some extra fluids in her lungs due to not being “squeezed” out of the birth canal. Rachel was sutured, but a slight mishap occured with them and it created a small hole where one spot did not fuse together. I have been treating it with Neosporin and it is healing greatly.

We spent 4 days in the hospital to ensure Rachel properly healed before venturing forth and becoming an active mom. Then the real fun began. The safety and security of the hospital created a fear of being on our own with this little one.

Since then we have been adjusting to fill her every need. It’s been tiring, yet satisfying at the same time. I wasn’t as involved in this crucial stage of my first daughter’s life, so I’ve learned a lot.

Now we spend most of our day eating, sleeping or changing diapers.

Big sister Taylor just loves her new sister to death. She bought her a Minnie Mouse, which Amelia adores. Minnie sits on her changing table and Amelia stares at Minnie as if she’s in deep thought about what she is exactly.

The kitties are still getting adjusted to the change. They have both noticed the lack of attention they are receiving, and sometimes force their way into receiving some by jumping on us while we’re sitting. I’d like to think they love her, but I’ll let time be the judge on that one.

My time thus far has been taken up significantly by her care and needs. Mommy does need a break! Today I started back at work full-time. I hope Rachel is doing fine today, I really do.

Crash and Freeze?

Over the past couple of weekends I’ve been working hard at getting ROX season one to the production phase. I’ve authored all the DVD menus and have done most of the design of the case inserts. I had all the episodes ready. It was just a matter of rendering all of the discs and making sure I had all of the extras we wanted before it would be finished.

All of that work took an extreme turn for the worse the other day. I had been having troubles rendering video. I thought it was a Sony Vegas or Quick Timeissue, so I removed and reinstalled. I then went on to think it was a codec issue, so I removed every media codec I had (quite a few), still didn’t fix it. I had given up for the night out of pure frustration as to why my 2 month old computer wasn’t working properly.

The next day I woke to something I’ve never seen before. A black screen with a message: Cannot read disk on SATA 0 and Cannot read disc on SATA 3. WTF!

I restarted the machine to hear a distinct “clicking” noise. One of the hard drives was toast, so I removed the secondary one (the one with all the important data on it) and the computer would then boot into safe mode. Apparently, my virus software which I get from Indiana University somehow became corrupt and became “Incompatible with my version of windows.” So I wiped it and am still installing my programs.

My 1.5tb drive which has all of my personal, business and ROX data was clicking. What do I do? I could not initialize the disk. My first thought was disk recovery, so I called the only computer service place I trust and they referred me to Drive Savers. They gave me a code that cuts 10% off the price and gives you a no data – no cost guarantee. I called them up and the estimate was quite shocking, $700 to $2700. Anybody want a large Seagate drive on the cheap?

Is the data worth that? It contains 3 years of blood, sweat and tears on this project. I conferred with my partner in crime, Editor B. He said he would help, which was a relief. My homeowners insurance policy will cover anything over $1000. After much thought and searching my other hard drives for data, I’ve decided to try something a little ‘home brewed’ to alleviate my situation. Freezing the drive.

Not like this picture though. The moisture from the ice will ruin it. I scoured the interwebs looking for “freezer trick hard drive” and came across many posts about how this can help you retrieve the data you need. Sometimes it works for just a few minutes and sometimes it works for a few hours. There is no definitive amount of time, I think it’s limited to just how damaged the hard drive is.

I put my hard drive in the freezer last night about 6pm and I plan on taking out about the same time tonight. I wrapped it with some paper towels and placed it in a vacuum bag. This will help with any moisture issues that could result. I plan on keeping the hard drive in the bag and placing it in a larger bag with ice. When I connect the drive the computer, this will help keep it cooler longer.

I have about 500 gigs of data that I would like to get off of this drive. But I have prioritized what I am retrieving.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: This did not work in my circumstance. However I’ve been told it does.

Feel Like a Number

While I am used to feeling like a number in our quantity over quality soceity, something just happened that I have to share.

I attend Ivy Tech Community College, and have since 1999 off and on. In that time they have exponentially grown to become the school with the largest enrollment in the state of Indiana, with currently over 110,000 students enrolled. As the state has lost it’s large manufacturing base of employment, people (like me) have went to school to help us find new careers.

Over the past couple of years, communications from the school have went downhill as far as information goes. Most communications are either a weekly job or volunteer posting, informational updates, or the one that really puts a thorn in my side, “Pick Ivy Tech.” Essentially an advertisment sent to students. Why are they wasting money sending letters and emails to people already enrolled asking them to pick Ivy Tech? Haven’t they already?

This last incident is the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” The Bloomington campus has outgrown it’s space, and until they can build additions they have leased annex campuses. While this can be great for situations such as this one, it can also be a nightmare. The Liberty Drive campus does not have adequate parking. While it is a pain, I’m not complaining. I work at IU where parking is sometimes not even a possibility.

This email was sent to all Bloomington students:

Additional Parking Options for Liberty Drive:

1. Park across the street from the Liberty Drive campus. The spaces
reserved for Ivy Tech students are located in the parking lot previously
occupied by the MCL Cafeteria; across the street and just south of the
Liberty campus.

2. Park at the main campus and take the Rural Transit shuttle to the
Liberty Drive campus.

Click the link below to download the Rural Transit schedule:
http://services.bloomington.ivytech.edu/media/pdf/academics/IvyTechBus.pdf

For more information about Rural Transit, go to:
http://www.ivytech.edu/bloomington/about/shuttle.html

While these options are helpful, they create equal if not larger problems. For those of you who know the area, Liberty Drive is a busy road that has many large businesses on it, and it is a major thoroughfare for the west side of Bloomington. Also crossing a 4 lane road is a dangerous affair, as a student in high school I remember students being severely injured and even killed on occasion trying to do the same thing to get lunch. Due to this, MCCSC closed their campuses and upgraded their cafeterias. There is no intersection near that has a crosswalk, and the road curves at this point as well making visibility for the drivers an issue as well.

I felt a response was necessary to highlight these potentially fatal flaws. While hindsight is 20/20, I could have left a couple paragraphs and a few remarks out. I was mainly trying to give them constructive criticism, and point out alternatives.

Here is my response:

While the additional options you have listed are helpful, please let me remind you of the hazards and reasons why these options are not feasible.

1. Park at MCL. While there is plenty of parking at that location, and in the scope of things, close, it is also very hazardous. It is hazardous for the same reasons why Bloomington High School South closed it campus. People were hurt and died. It is dangerous for people to cross 4 lanes of traffic at any time on that road, let alone rush hour. I hope your recommendation does not lead to serious injuries or death for anyone.

2. Park at the Main Campus and take the Rural Transit. While this option might be okay for full-time students, but for people like me who work full time and take classes when they can, this is impossible. I can barely make it to class on time, let alone wait for a bus that comes once or twice an hour.

My wife brought up a great idea that would really ease the parking situation at liberty drive. Perhaps you could lease (through your agreement with IU) one of their buses to use as a shuttle during the hours when it is needed most. This dedicated shuttle would be a better option than the rural transit, and make the students really feel like they are cared for.

I for one am tired of the “stupidity” in the communications from this school. The email you sent was “the straw that broke the camels back” for me. I don’t need pointless communication, I need real communication.

While this may not be your area, I must say the emails that say “choose Ivy-Tech” are pointless when I’m already attending. What am I going to do? Move to another state to attend a community college?

Respectively,

Lee Lawmaster

As I stated, hindsight is 20/20. Some of my comments were a mistake, but I was emotionally charged at the time. I would send an apology for some of my remarks, but as you are about to see it would only make the situation worse. I sent this email to the person who sent it, and I CC’d the Chancellor of the Bloomington Campus. I thought it seemed worthy of skipping any chain of command due to the safety issues involved.

Here is the response from the Chancellor:

Lew: You copied me, so let me respond. Your message was signed “respectively” and I assume you meant “respectfully”. It was neither. If parking is an insurmountable problem for you, I believe a full tuition refund is still available to you through Friday. Contact Jennie Vaughan in students affairs and she will assist you with your withdrawal. This concludes responses from campus staff to you on “stupidity” of “pointless” communication on this matter.
————————–
Please excuse any spelling errors. This message was sent from my PDA.

Whoa! From everything I’ve heard about this guy, he’s the nicest guy you’d know. I didn’t mention having a problem parking.

In the end I said some things I shouldn’t have. I do realize that. Although you would think a person in that position would see through that and see the serious safety issues with their plan. Since Ivy Tech has a monopoly on 2 year degrees in Indiana, I don’t have a choice of seeking another institution for education that is affordable. I know from talking to my fellow students that communications with the school are sub par though. I guess they just don’t want to listen.

I’ve learned where I don’t want my children to go when they reach college age.

One other note: I received a mailing yesterday, I made the Dean’s list for the Summer semester of 2009. While that’s great, I think this overshadows anything I could accomplish at this school.

Half a Decade

Five years ago tomorrow, I became a husband. While I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into back then, I actually appreciate it now. Five years really doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an accomplishment in today’s world.

Throughout these years, Rachel and I have accomplished many things together. We bought a house, she got her master’s degree, I lost my job and now our newest adventure, our first child.

Our lives before each other were as different as night and day, but our beliefs have kept us close in many ways. I think it’s the core reason why our bond has lasted. It’s a case of opposites attracting. Our bond has done nothing but grow closer over time, something I hope doesn’t end anytime soon.

We will be celebrating our 5th anniversary with a trip down to French Lick. We’re going to spend a night at the French Lick Springs Hotel and perhaps do a little gambling. The traditional gift of the 5 year anniversary is wood. While the trip is our gift to each other, I have to break the rules and buy a present. While I can’t say what it is yet, I know she will be pleasantly surprised.

I hope to get a chance to relax, as I haven’t had much time to do that in a while. School starts back up in 11 days, and I’m back to work at TS full time right now, but that will be scaled back to 24 hours a week at the end of the month.

Today is my father’s 58th birthday as well, I called and left him a message this morning. I hope he got it. I love you dad.

August is a very busy month for us. My father’s birthday on the 13th, our anniversary on the 14th and Taylor’s birthday on the 26th.

Catching Up

I’ve been too busy lately with all of my on-going projects to post any lately. Since I’ve got some free time, let me update you about the ongoings happening in my life.

It’s a Girl: We found out last Wednesday that we’re expecting a baby girl. While Rachel is happy she’s having her first child, I’m a bit indifferent. I’m not saying that I’m disappointed, I was just hoping for a boy – merely because I already have a daughter. She was acting up during the ultrasound and wouldn’t let the technician get a good look at her heart, so Rachel is going to have another ultrasound during her next appointment, just to make sure she’s developing normally. We have had a boy’s name picked out for over a year now, but have been having trouble with a girl one. We’ve finally decided on 2 – which we are keeping secret until she’s born.

Remodeling Blues: I’ve been over-occupied lately with remodeling. While I have made a lot of progress, there is still much to do. Last week I finished the next to last set of wires I need to pull. It was a complete nightmare, but this will give us some flexibility in the layout of our living room in the future. My next job is to cover up our duct run and post downstairs. We have decided to use some decorator panels downstairs instead of paneling or drywall. These panels are relatively inexpensive and will eliminate the majority of painting we would need to do with our original plan. I hope to get the downstairs almost complete by the time I go back to school in June.

No Flash: Friday while in the midst of “wire pulling hell” I wanted to take some pictures. I discovered our camera, a Nikon Coolpix 7600 has a problem. The flash isn’t cooperating, you can’t turn it on in most of it’s modes – and even in the modes it does “function” it doesn’t work. We’re working on finding a solution and have found a nice one with the Nikon Coolpix S210. Now it’s just a matter of purchasing it.

Demon’s Are Gone: The spring semester has officially ended. The last few weeks were quite the nail biter, as I did horrible on 2 chapter tests in my Math-050 course. I’m pleased to say that after 10 years of taking this course off and on, I have passed it with an 86%. This summer I am taking 5 courses, this will enable me to finish my degree in 7 semesters. With a baby coming, the sooner the better. The next course I am dreading is Math-111, I took it once and failed. I hope with 050 off my back, and a little help from Rachel I can conquer this as well. I’ve decided to change my degree and concentration. I originally was seeking an Associates of Science in Computer Information Technology with a PC Support & Administration concentration, after reviewing the coursework I know a little about everything. I don’t feel like I’ll be challenged or forced to use my brain to it’s full extent for that matter. I’ve decided to get an Associates of Applied Science in Computer Information Systems with a Programmer / Analyst concentration.

Free Tix: Being a smoker, I get mailings from time to time with coupons, offers, etc. from tobacco companies. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a voucher for free tickets to the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. My mother has received this same offer, but for Kentucky Speedway (as she lives in Louisville). I’ve decided to bring my mother, as I don’t think Rachel will be comfortable in the heat all day. We get free parking and free rental of headset radios to listen in on the teams. I’ve never been to the 500 before, and being free makes it that much better.

That’s One Big Apple

It was an amazing trip. Rachel and I have both came to the conclusions that the stigmas regarding New York from the “old days” are still around, at least where we live. We felt safe at all times, and only saw a handful of homeless. I saw many people out trying to help the homeless. They seem to have people on every block asking for donations.

The first day we arrived late in the day due to plane delays, so we just walked around a little bit and ate dinner. Our hotel, the Marriott Marquis is located right in the heart of Times Square. We could see a sliver of the new years ball from our hotel room.

Enjoy the slideshow containing all of our pictures from the trip!

Continue reading “That’s One Big Apple”

A Different Summer

This summer is going to have a big change of pace for me.

My wife is expecting our first child, and I am remodeling our basement & a nursery. I am also going to school to finally get an education that I’ve been working on for a decade.

We’ve decided that I shouldn’t work this summer. This is easy due to my academic year positions. Instead I am going to focus on my education and try to cram as many summer courses as possible.

Even though I have been working on this degree for a decade, I’ve only achieved 3 credit hours towards my degree. This may sound astounding, but my educational history has been filled with disappointment.

I’m going to take 5 classes, with one of them being online. I’m very nervous about this online course, as I took one several years ago and failed it. It was the same math class that I am doing very well in right now. The class in particular is Introduction to Microcomputers, something I could sleep through. I will be nervous about this until I get a few assignments in.

Here are the classes:

CINS-101 – Introduction to Microcomputers
ECON-101 – Economics Fundamentals
COMM-101 – Fundamentals of Public Speaking
IVYT-107 – Professional Presence
HIST-101 – Survey of American History I

It’s a total of 13 credit hours, a big load for someone who hasn’t went to school full time since 1997. All of these classes are in my general education requirements for a CINT (Computer Information Technology) degree. After completion of these courses, I will only have 2 other gen ed classes left.

I’m excited and scared as hell at the same time. I wasn’t lucky enough to have a “real” college experience. I think this will give me a piece of it. I don’t think I will have the availability to do this again, with the impending arrival of my second child.

Must Find Happy Place

Nothing seems to be going right lately. The things that normally bring joy to my life have disappeared or are disappearing. It’s hard to wake up in the morning when you don’t have a lot to look forward to. The only thing I have currently that brings some potential light at the end of the tunnel are my classes.

Education is sought after more than skills at this point. At least in my experience. I learned this the hard way and it’s really doing a number on me. There was an opening at my job in Technology Services at the Kelley School of Business. It’s almost exactly what I do, with a few other added responsibilities. I’ve been here just one month shy of a year now and I thought I would be a good fit. The only caveat, they wanted someone with at least an associates degree which I do not have.

They must have thought I was a good fit as well, because I almost immediately was asked for an interview. It went extremely well. I thought it was only a matter of time before the job would be offered to me. Then my boss’s boss wanted to speak with me, it was regarding the position. They offered it to someone who had “more rounded experience.” They said she “can give a different perspective that nobody else in the department can.” While I understand they have to do what’s best for the department and not myself, it didn’t hit me until today – the day she started.

There is really nothing I can do to make myself happy but continue my education and hope to find something someday. The only real issue bugging me is that I know that day won’t come soon enough.

This on top of all of the other issues I’m facing. I need a new computer & printer, I am on a deadline for remodeling the basement and old “office.” I need to start planning a summer job or load up on classes for the summer semester and get a large student loan to cover the lack of income.

I feel like I haven’t moved forward at all, but just taken a few dozen steps back since I started on my own back in 1999.

My only solace at this point is my love affair with ROX and computers in general. The computer doesn’t care about how much money I make or any of the other human conditions.

If only life were this simple.

Goodbye Baby Tat

Baby Tat (named by Taylor) was originally named Olivia and then named Baby by our friends Jeff & Sara who we got her from. They have numerous cats (8 or so) and she didn’t get along with another alpha kitty in their household. We decided to take her from them to possibly give her a better living environment.

Our other cats, Furby and Oreo were mixed on the addition of a new roommate. Oreo loved it, and we eventually started calling the two “lovers.” Although they couldn’t consummate their relationship they acted very much like a couple. Furby is the embodiment of a “grumpy old man.” He is an alpha kitty as well. The two would sometimes get along, but most of the time fought to the bone. Those fights would sometimes rattle the house.

Baby Tat has been showing her distress by leaving bombs all over the house. When I say bomb, I really mean feces. We know there is nothing physically wrong with her, but nothing we tried to do would help or solve this situation.

Out of frustration, we gave her a new home. A gentleman came over Sunday to meet her, and they seemed to make a connection. She stayed in his arms (which she wouldn’t do that long for any of us.) He grew up with a cat and missed the companionship. He doesn’t have any other animals at home either, which is a big plus for this princess.

Although the house is a bit quieter, and there seems to be an empty hole where she used to be. I believe she will be better off.

We miss you Baby Tat!

So Far…

So far my classes at Ivy Tech Community College have went well. There have been a few glitches, which I will explain further, but overall it has been a good experience for a change. This has been the typical time frame where I “fly the coop.”

My math course, MATH-050 (Basic Algebra) is quite boring. My skills lie between this course and the course between it (MATH-111 [Intermediate Algebra]). My instructor is also the head of the department that deals with disability issues and I think it spills over into her teaching style. While I do not have any learning disabilities I can see how this style can help those who need it. The rest of us feel like we’re in grade school. One thing that I have issues with is some of the coursework. She has assigned us to “write 5 things from” a book, “Managing the Mean Math Blues” and two videos. All of these focus on one main thing, study skills. It seems a little off for a math course to assign reading material not directly related to the course itself.

My Visual Basic Course, CINS-113 (Logic, Design and Programming) has been going great! I enjoy the instructor and the coursework. My only concern is that the instructor does not write the tests, the head of the department does. The tests are based solely on the book and not what we speak about in class. While I am reading the book, it is impossible to remember all the terms and items needed.

I’m hoping to not work this summer and load up on courses so that I can hopefully finish this degree a little sooner.