Education – lee-lawmaster.com

Settling In

The last week has been interesting to say the least. I’ve been working on finding a new normal, a new routine, a new way to cope with these extraordinary times.

As one of those who still has a job but has been forced to work from home, I am thankful to still have my job. At the same time, I have much that needs to be accomplished at my actual home. A place I don’t spend much time at. The grass is growing, there are trees I need to cut down, and there is a car that needs to be finished.

So I began going “home” from my girlfriends house for work every day. Almost like a reverse commute. I have a desk there, I have dual monitors I have all of the “things” I need to do my job with much more efficiency than I do at my girlfriends home.

I used a lot of my “in between” time, which is time I’m not helping someone by scanning photos. I have an extremely large backlog of family photos and photos from my girlfriend. Ones she cares about deeply. Her album is quite literally falling apart, so I began with that, and have almost finished.

My trusty flatbed, one of 3 scanners I own

Between trying to get through this backlog of photos that has felt insurmountable for many years, the grass is certainly growing again. It’s something I actually hired out last year. The first time ever. After having a surgery that effectively removed my ability to sweat in one underarm I could not physically take the heat of the summer. I had no choice. I am not one to give up easily. I have to get back on that saddle and try again.

The Camaro has been sitting on jack stands for months now. I’ve finished replacing the rear brakes. I just did a modification to the proportioning valve that is supposed to increase the line pressure to the rear brakes, making them work better. I just need to bleed the rears, and change the sway bar bushings and end links. Then I have to begin on the front work I have planned.

I’ve had my youngest daughter with me for almost two weeks now. Her mother and I agreed on a temporary custody agreement to keep her from jumping back and forth between households. I will have her for one more week before she goes to her mothers house. Her school completely shut down at the start of this pandemic, but will re-open on the 14th of April to remote learning. For her, that means paper packets of learning activities she must do. No e-learning here. I’m happy to have had this time with her, but at the same time feel like I haven’t used it to benefit my relationship with my daughter. I’ve been away a lot, or working.

One thing I did do, was open up her ability to use e-mail. When her mother and I divorced, I created an email account for her for a multitude of reasons. I wanted her to be able to have one with her name instead of something with numbers on the end. I also wanted a way to send her messages from the heart that nobody would see. My intention was to give her the password when she graduated high school.

I successfully hid those emails I have sent her from view, but linked her email to her computer and her phone, giving her instructions on how to email her teacher that only produces a path where her teacher is emailed.

She has enjoyed this new ability, and has been writing her own pandemic journal, directly to her teacher. I think this has been helpful, as she was showing some major anxieties about her teacher. These kids miss the experience of school.

Catching Up

It has been too long since my last posting. I’m going to sum up what’s happened since my last post, and then write individual posts for the more important things later on.

A EF1 tornado hit my area. It started a few hundred feet away from my home and travelled a couple of miles east. Nobody was killed thankfully, but some were injured. It wreaked havoc on my family’s emotional state for a period of time.

Our beloved family member Oreo lost a battle he could not win. Over the past several months, he lost a lot of weight. So much so that we decided to take him to the vetinarian. After doing some blood work, it was discovered that he was in renal failure. To make it worse, there wasn’t anything we could do to cure him, we could only try to make him comfortable. We still miss him greatly.

We’re now into Summer Session II at Indiana University. Session I went very well for me. I took a computer science course which was an introduction to Python. I am now taking a Survey of Hip Hop & Rap cultural studies course. While I’ve never been a large fan of the genre before, I’m beginning to enjoy all aspects of it!

Out of Sync

My first semester as a student at Indiana University was very hard on me. So hard that I became “out of sync” with the world around me, and the normal activities I participated in (including this blog).

Too many events occurred to even begin to try to catch up with one blog post, so I won’t try. Instead I’m going to mention current events.

This week was the first semester of the spring semester, for which I’ve decided to take some 100 level courses in an attempt to give my mind a break.

I’m also adjusting to some changes in my work schedule, as I now have some very long days. I work from 7:30a until 10p two nights a week. While this may sound horrible, it allows me some freedoms. I don’t work on Wednesdays, and I only work 5 hours on Fridays. It’s a trade off that I’m willing to pay for.

During the winter break, I was able to catch up on ROX. I have edited 11 of 24 episodes for the season one DVD set. I hope to finish editing by the end of the semester, and begin DVD authoring.

The plan is that I will be able to re-connect with my family, and more importantly, my life during this period.

Sick and Tired

I just thought I’d leave a quick note, as I haven’t written in quite a long time:

I didn’t realize how much work my classes this semester would actually be. It’s taken up much of my time as of recently. I also had a bout of pneumonia to which I recovered and now am dealing with some serious sinus issues.

Most of the time working with computers is fun, when you’re sick it’s quite the opposite.

I’ll write again when I can.

Day Two

My “second” day of being a student wasn’t nearly as crazy as I thought it would be. You see, I have 15 minutes between the time I leave my job to when my class starts on the opposite side of campus at Swain Hall East.

The trip wasn’t as stressful and energy sucking as I thought it would be. As a matter of fact I made it to class with 5 minutes to spare!

The class on the other hand seems like it’s going to be one I have to pay close attention to, and keep up on. It’s the first statistics course I’ve ever taken! A few of my co-workers recommended the course and said it was “easy.” With those kind of recommendations I couldn’t pass this one up. A fellow co-worker is taking it this semester as well, so I’ll have him for any help I might need.

As soon as I’m done with class, I have a quick bike ride back to the IMU, where Rachel and Amelia should be on their way or waiting on me. Not so bad.

Essentially I will be doing this “day one” and “day two” routine twice each week, with my Friday’s being split amongst Kelley and some study time at the library.

The one thing I have to change is the seat on my bicycle. It’s never been comfortable in the 15 years I’ve owned it. Now that I’m using it 4 times a week, it’s downright painful. I ordered an awesome seat last night from amazon, and hope to have it installed this weekend.

Day One

My first day as a student at IU was exciting, exhausting and fulfilling.

I first worked my job at Technology Services at KSoB. I then rushed over to McNutt for my other job with UITS/TCC. When I arrived and started to settle in, I received a call asking me to go to Read due to some staffing issues. So I rushed over to the other end of campus as quick as I could to fulfill this request.

When I arrived I was in shock. Whomever had worked there last had left the supply cabinet unlocked, and all of it’s contents inside unlocked. We keep a radio, laptop, hubs and other supplies in it. Someone could have simply walked in and taken them without worry.

The consultant that should have been there arrived about 30 minutes late, he’s obviously a underclassmen, he didn’t show any sense of responsibility. We had many tickets and a few appointments to go on as there are many people around campus having problems connecting to IU’s network. We called many people and were able to resolve the issue on the phone, or close the ticket because the issue had been fixed.

Printing was also basically down across the whole campus. The printing system was migrated to a new system without any time for testing that is normally done. Basically what was once many was migrated to a few and all hell broke loose. As I write this printing is down again. I hope this issue gets resolved soon, as I genuinely feel bad for these students who rely on university printers.

It was a good, hard and hot shift, but we were productive.

I then rode my bike over to Ballantine Hall, where my American Studies class is. I arrived almost an hour early, so I had time to relax from the fast paced day I had.

I was amazed to find that my class is very small, only about 10 students! The topic of this class is how the computer changed history and culture. I think it’s going to be a fun and interesting class. Since I’m the geek that I am with regards to computers and history I think it’s the perfect fit for me.

After class I caught the Bloomington Transit, the city’s public bus system. I get to ride it free since I’m a student at IU. My bike and I rode over to Wal-Mart where Rachel and Amelia were waiting on me. This is a better alternative than Rachel packing her up and driving back to campus to pick me up. I haven’t rode the bus since I was in middle school! The one thing I can say is bus design has changed significantly since then.

Once we got home, I basically crashed from the days’ activities. I hope I can keep up the pace.

Today is going to be a whole new adventure that I will update you on tomorrow.

Busy Weekend Ahead

I’m going to be a busy bee this weekend. Part preparing for school, part vehicle maintenance, part helping out a friend.

My hitch and bike rack were delivered yesterday and I need them to be on the car by Monday, when my classes start. My bike lock should be delivered today, if FedEx doesn’t mess it up.

I need to replace the front brakes on our car, the rotors are warped – a common problem on Chevrolet HHR’s with factory brakes.

I’m also replacing the brakes on a friends mini-van. I have another friend who wants me to do the brakes on his car as well. Do you see a trend here? Yes, I’m known for being a brake guy. It’s one of the few tasks (along with changing your own oil) that you can do to maintain your vehicle that will save you thousands of dollars in your lifetime. Most of the time it just requires a jack (which all automobiles come with) and a few simple hand tools.

After that I’ll have everything I need prepared for this new journey, education at Indiana University. The only question I have remaining is if my mind is ready for this new endeavor. I’m hopeful it will be a seamless transition, but I’m worried the content will be more academic than I’m used to. I have a tendency to worry too much about these things though. Everyone tells me that I’ll do well, but that little voice inside my head always tells me otherwise.

Just What I Needed

This fall is going to be interesting…

The schedule for my job with UITS came out over the weekend, which has me working at Briscoe, McNutt, Foster and the Information Commons. While this is great where my working life is concerned, it’s horrible for my academic life. I have classes at Ballantine Hall and in Swain East. They are on the opposite side of campus. For those of you that don’t know, the IU campus is quite large.

To make matters worse, on two of those days I will get out of work 15 minutes before my class starts.

To try to expedite my travel I’m currently working on solutions to get my bike on campus. With my bike on campus, I think I can cut down the travel time significantly. Since I live a good trek away, biking to campus isn’t really an option. I’ve got some options to figure out. I’m going to either leave my bike on campus during the week and take it home on the weekend, or take it with me each day. I’m going to test whether my bike will fit in our car tonight, if not we’ll have to order $300 worth of gear ( a hitch and hitch mounted bike rack).

I haven’t seriously rode my bike in about 10 years, which invokes something else, a more active lifestyle. I’m sure I’ll be really sore for the first couple of weeks, but after that I’ll in much better shape. Something I need to do.

I also need these items:

I’ve got my eye on particular ones, but I’m still trying to find the best item for the price.

I had thought about these last minute things coming up, I just never realized it would be so exhaustive and expensive.

Editing Schedule

I am currently between semesters, my last one at Ivy Tech and my first one at IU. In this downtime, I’m working in some editing of the “good” episodes of ROX that I have, which are a majority of season one.

On a good night I can crank out 2 episodes. Last night I was only able to complete one.

Most of these episodes are in pretty good shape, they still need a look over to make sure they meet my high standards before I’ll allow people to pay money for them. The biggest issue seems to be with transitions between shots and the beginning and end of the show. Luckily I have a ton of “stock” clips to use if one is bad.

If you look at all of my blog posts regarding ROX, you’ll see many ramblings about technical difficulties or just not having time. I’m finished with giving excuses. I’d like to get season one ready and launch it with my new LML Video Services website.

Once this “easy” process is over, I will start the tedious heavy editing process. Dissecting each episode ensuring the audio and video tracks are synchronized and making sure there are no other transitional issues.

After the editing process is complete, DVD authoring and design begin. This is where I actually create the look and feel of the DVD. Then I design the case and labels. Once the producers give their words of approval, it will be released.

The biggest difference between this time, and the last time is I have an active backup solution. My computer is backed up every night, and those backups are backed up weekly. If my hard drive fails, I haven’t lost any work. That is what put me over a year behind. I had to recapture everything and start from day one.

Wish me luck.

Summer Luxuries

This summer is wildly different than the last couple of summers. I’m actually working a regular schedule! That means we have the means to do more!

I’m also taking my last semester at Ivy Tech, the school I have learned to despise. Since I am transferring to IU, I didn’t have many choices because there are a limited amount of classes that transfer. So I am taking Econ-101 and Hist-125. Economics is well, economics; there isn’t much I can really say about such a dull class. History is a different story however, as the focus for this class is “The History of American Technology.” There is nothing that gets me as excited as history and technology, well I can probably name a few things but I must digress.

I also made the deans list for the Spring 2010 semester!

My econ class is online, and my history class was originally a “hybrid” class, which is essentially online; with the option of coming in for lectures and discussion. I guess not enough people registered for my section and it was canceled and moved to a online section. So no rushing to class for me this summer! Score!

Interestingly enough, one of the first classes I will be taking at IU is a similar class, but it is in relation to how the computer changed America. It is through the American Studies program.

I have had an average of 100 pages of reading per week thus far, and I expect that pace to stay the same. For someone who only reads something if it’s necessary, that’s a mountain of reading. Luckily I’m able to read and do my homework while at work, which opens up my time away from work for activities I’d much rather be doing.

Speaking of work, it seems as of the last few months that more and more people on campus are moving to Apple computers; the pressure for us to offer support for them has grown exponentially. I haven’t seriously used a mac since the original Macintosh. So with some preparation, I will be purchasing a macbook sometime this summer. I hope to learn the systems inside and out in the only way I know how; enveloping myself in it. Some think that it’s a large expense for just a learning tool, but I think it’s a small investment in my learning. Plus it will elminate our current battles over who can use the laptop. Even Amelia wants to play on what we call “the magic box.”

We’re currently talking (and planning) on adding a HTPC (Home Theater PC) to our endless collection of technology at home. The key issue is price at this point, neither of us want to spend too much money. With the lack of abilities a DVD player provides, a HTPC can offer us endless opportunities for whatever we want to do. I have many movies that we can simply watch over our home network, plus with things like Hulu, Boxee and my new fave, Netflix – we’ll never have the excuse that “nothing’s on.” With that in mind, I’m currently working on getting our LAN up and running. I just have to install the box, an outlet, and connect the wiring.

I’ve all but completed the new website for LML Video Services. I just need to raise the $60 I need to re-up my hosting package. I built this website from scratch through my Computer Information Systems class last semester, and then tweaked it for “commercial” use. It’s simple, just my style. I’m currently trying to make the decision to leave PayPal and use Google for checkout options, but that’s still on the drawing board. I also have a “Latest Updates” section that is essentially a blog. I would like to use Word Press or some other blogging type script to update this rather than hand code it. Unfortunately I cannot work on this until it is actually up and running.