Was I asleep? Had I slept?
February 27, 2005 @ 11:02 PM
In this dream, I was walking through our kitchen downstairs, when some movement to my right caught my eye. I instinctively stopped moving—just in time to see two fireballs fly from the living room, pass inches from my face, and crash into the kitchen wall to my left. I peered around the corner to see my roommates standing by the bar, laughing hysterically. Sam was juggling a fireball between his hands and eyeing me.
Oh, wait... that wasn't a dream. That was fifteen minutes ago. I was going down to the basement to check on my laundry when I discovered my roommates having fun with rubbing alcohol and lighters. They'd set the bar, several cotton balls and cotton swabs, a sword, each other, and a hammer on fire. So far, the only casualty had been the upholstery of one of our chairs.
All in all, not bad for a Sunday night.
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In other news, I (with ~much~ help from best friend Eric and uncles Don and Jeff) spent all of yesterday helping my grandparents move all of their furniture from a large house in Des Moines to a smaller house in Truro (south-central Iowa). I'm not exactly sure why two 60+ year olds need three queen-sized beds to complement their three antique (i.e., very heavy) bedroom sets, all of which came from the 2nd floor and two of which returned to the second floor. Regardless, the point is we got it moved and I still have limited mobility today. And they've promised not to move for at least forever, if not longer. I give it three years.
I must admit, my motives for helping were essentially selfish. My uncle Alan was considering coming up from Texas to help them move over his spring break. Of course, that would pretty much obliterate my plans of going down to Texas to visit him during mine (since they're simultaneous). Now that they're moved, hopefully the trip is back on. I haven't been away from campus for more than a couple days for a very long time. I need a break.
My desktop computer just got a baby sister.
February 24, 2005 @ 11:16 PM
Warning: The loopy alert level is at sapphire, which is a beautiful but dangerous color. I haven't been making much sense all day. In fact, I'll be amazed if I make it through this entry, as I haven't been able to write all day, either. Earlier I tried to write the word "social" three times in my class notes and the closest I got was "colia." That's not even a word!
Assuming you're me (and I realize this only works for a few of you, but read on…), you know it's going to be an interesting day when you spend over $700 within a few minutes of waking. In related news, I bought a laptop!
I'd been looking at them all week. I'd made a few decisions early on as to what I was looking for. First of all, it was going to have to be a refurbished laptop, because I'm on a grad student budget. My budget has a lot in common with Bill Gates' budget, assuming we're talking about the Bill Gates that lives in the park and throws refurbished condoms at skateboarders. Secondly, the laptop had to be very small and light. This requirement tends to raise prices (another reason for that 'refurbished' bit), but since I already have a desktop and am not looking to replace it, the point of having a laptop is that I can carry it everywhere. If it's too heavy to carry around, it's no good to me. Thirdish, it had to be a Dell, because, hey, Dell rocks. I briefly considered getting an Apple because their laptops make me drool and there's some benefit to having multiple platforms on-hand, but their prices were pretty steep, and there are also downsides to having to manage multiple operating systems.
So, I'd been watching Dell's refurbished site like a hawk with a programming background for the last several days. Their turnover rate is amazing. They would have completely new sets of laptops, with completely new prices, every few minutes. Twice I tried to buy a laptop but was simply too slow on the draw, and someone a little bit click-happier snatched it before I.
I'd noticed that prices seemed lower and competition seemed slower in the mornings, so I woke up at 6:30am to check out Dell's site (I also had homework to do, so I'm not ~that~ crazy). I hit the refresh button and saw (nearly) the exact laptop I'd been looking for, at roughly $100 less than I was expecting to pay for it. I added it to my cart as quickly as humanly possible and checked out with equal haste. I'm hoping I didn't do anything stupid in my morning-fog stupor. :)
Assuming I didn't screw up royally, I should soon have in my possession a brand new* Dell Inspiron 700m (pictured above) sometime next week. It's got a 12.1" widescreen display, measures only slightly larger than a sheet of printer paper (assuming your printer paper is 1.5" thick), and weighs in at just over four pounds. I'll probably plop down another C-Note on EBay to get the extended life battery, as I've heard the factory-default 4-cell only holds a 2.5 hour charge. I'll probably also either buy a notebook sleeve or a whole new backpack for carrying it around, too. But all those purchases considered, I still consider it an excellent deal.
Next up, I'll figure out how to pay for it. I'm considering international espionage.
*Note: I'm using "new" in the NBC Must-See TV sense of the word. "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you!"
The Weekend Update with Robby G.
February 20, 2005 @ 11:38 AM
In case you couldn't tell by my ever so slightly longer than average silence, it's been a busy week here in Robbyville. This last week I somehow managed to be both generally productive ~and~ exceptionally social. I'm usually one or the other, but rarely am I able to combine both. So, even though I'm not a big fan of the laundry list format, it's the only way I think I can give details without making this entry several thousand words long.
Monday: The week started off slow. My students watched the first half of a movie in class, and I cancelled office hours and a racquetball game to go home and finish up a paper due Tuesday. I spent the evening writing my paper and grading student papers.
Tuesday: Went to both of my classes (of course). I learned two things of note in the second class. First, the New Media center in Carver was having an open house immediately after class. Since I hadn't seen the new center yet, I decided to go. Second, a professor from Texas whose work I happen to enjoy was giving a presentation in Ross that afternoon. I decided I wasn't going to miss that, either.
I hung out in the New Media center for a while with Quinn, Geoff, and Brooke, talking geek. The food was good (I stocked up on shrimp and cheeses), which I appreciated, as I hadn't eaten anything yet that day. Quinn and I then headed back over to Ross for Clay's presentation. The presentation was very entertaining, and I was exceptionally pleased to discover that Clay, whom I'd previously thought of as an intelligent but disembodied voice, was embodied in a real frame and had a great personality to boot. At the end of the lecture Dorothy announced there would be a social gathering at Katie's house. I decided I couldn't miss that one.
I had an intelligent conversation on the bus home with Jean, who had been my rhetorical theory professor in undergrad. I got off the bus feeling capable and adult, which are two feelings I'm not often able to muster. I graded a few student papers and headed over to Katie's. I felt awkward when I first walked in, as I was the only masters student present, and there were only two Ph.D. students around (including Katie, and she was the hostess). The rest of the partygoers were professors. After a few minutes, though, I realized people were talking and acting according to their personalities, not their roles, and I decided to enjoy myself, so I switched from coffee to white wine. Geoff, Lee, Dave Ro., and Dorothy all left fairly early, but I spent several hours hanging out with and talking with Clay, Katie, Carolyn, and Dave Ru. I went home feeling great.
Wednesday: My students watched the second half of the movie while I graded papers in the back of the room. I cancelled office hours, hung out for a while in Landscape Architecture talking with Amanda, Kate, Miranda, and a couple other people I can't immediately remember, and then headed home to grade more papers. I played racquetball with Quinn at 3pm (won 3 of 3 matches), then headed home to start preparing for a presentation on Thursday. I was forced to forgo my traditional Wednesday at Welch Ave. (though I'm making it there so infrequently this semester, it can hardly be called a tradition), as preparing the presentation took until the wee hours of the morning.
Thursday: My presentation went smoothly enough in my first class, and the second class was great, as Clay was the guest speaker, and I got the rare opportunity to discuss a class reading with the author. :) Afterward, Katie, Clay, Geoff, Lee, Karen, Quinn, and me walked over to Howe Hall and spent half an hour playing in the C6 Cave (ISU's 6-sided VR room), which is something I've wanted to do since I came here in 1999. Afterward, I rushed home and caught up a tiny bit on all the websites I'd been neglecting. Katie and Clay picked me up at 4pm, and we headed to Dublin Bay, which is a nice restaurant/bar on the south side of town I've always wanted to try. We hung out there for a couple of hours with Bob, Jim, Al, Dave, and Kathy, drinking Guinness and having a generally good time. I spent the rest of the evening finishing up my student papers and preparing for my Friday classes.
Friday: My classes went smoothly enough, though I had far more to say than I had minutes in which to say it, so most of the stuff got pushed back to Monday. I rushed back to Ross after class, as I had a meeting with Geoff at 10am. When I got there, Geoff and Brooke were being annoyed with Javascript, so I lent a helping brain for a while. By the time we finished, Kate had shown up for ~her~ meeting with Geoff, so Brooke and I sat around talking for a long while until it became my turn again. Geoff ripped apart my paper for me, though was nice enough to leave me with the feeling that my paper had merit. I headed home, ate a quick lunch, then headed to the Rec. for racquetball with Quinn (lost 3 of 4 matches).
I headed home for a quick shower after my stunning defeat. I'd just finished getting dressed when Julia arrived. While I burned her a DVD, she gave me a manicure and plucked my eyebrows. We have an interesting relationship. :) The DVD was taking a while, so she and I decided to go grocery shopping at Fareway. We then decided to go eat/drink at the Olde Main Brewery, which is a brewery/restaurant not four blocks from my house that I've been dying to try. The food was excellent (though expensive for a grad student; I paid $14 for shrimp scampi) and the beer was pretty good, too. I had a glass each of their wheat (a good idea) and stout (a bad idea, considering the pasta).
Later in the evening, Lisa and I headed to Bali Satay to see Parallex play. I got to talk for quite a while with their guitarist Matt, who lived next door to me in Towers several years ago. I also met the lead singer Rusty, who seems like a good guy, though our relationship was immediately a little awkward, as it seems he'd just broken up the night before with one of my students, who was also in attendance. *g* She and I didn't get a chance to talk, but for now I'll just assume that either she was busy or found the concept socially taboo, and not that I committed some sort of irrevocable faux pas.
The show was great, and I had several beers. I continued my trend from earlier in the evening and had one glass of several varieties: Boulevard Wheat, Blue Moon, Samuel Adams, Amber Bock, and one more I've now forgotten. I spent a while after the show talking to Matt and Rusty, then Lisa and I headed back to my place. We watched a movie with Justin, and all three of us ended up falling asleep on the couch. :) Luckily, Sammie eventually came home from whatever party she'd been at and woke us up. I got to bed around 3:30am.
Saturday: Woke up late and lazed around for far too long. I finally started revising my paper for Geoff's class around 5pm, but Kara came up from Des Moines around 6:30, so I didn't get much done. I drank lightly (and only Bud Light and a touch of cheap champagne), watched Spies Like Us and Shrek 2, and got to bed by 2am.
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Which brings us to today, friends! I congratulate you if you made it this far. I'll assume most people started skimming around Tuesday. :) Today should consist of more work on my paper, laundry, and a trip to Target. This coming week, I fear, will have a much larger scholastic component and a much smaller social one. C'est la vie d'un étudiant, no?
Interface Design, Global Thermonuclear War, and You
February 12, 2005 @ 12:06 PM
You know, I firmly believe websites should be interactive experiences, which is why I strive to both provide hyperlinks and occasionally clickable images in my posts, as well as include all sorts of extra brain-fattening goodies in the sidebar. The power of the internet as a medium is its ability to interact with its audience in a way that other visual media, such as television, cannot. However, with that power (as with any great power: just ask Spiderman, Jesus, or Brian Boitano) comes a hefty dose of responsibility. And that's where I think MSNBC has stepped over the line.
Take a look at the graphic I've provided, which has been disarmed and moved to this website for the purposes of discussion. It was first located here, in a news story regarding North Korea's claims to a nuclear arsenal (which is about as likely as someone in Ames possessing and concealing a nuclear arsenal within city limits, or about 56% according to data derived from the 2000 US Census statistics). I was reading the story, minding my own business, when about 1/3 the way down the page I was confronted with this possibility. "Interactive," it said. "Launch N. Korea's Arsenal."
As I see it, this offer suggests two interactivity problems: too much anonymous interaction, or conversely, not enough interaction.
Too Much Interaction
MSNBC is visited by (lets be generous) millions of people every day. To put this number into perspective, that is millions more people than visit this website on a daily basis. Therefore, assuming no automated screening process narrowed down their audience and selected me as a plausible launch candidate, millions of people were faced with this ethical dilemma. And, like many who were given this option, my initial reaction was, "Don't mind if I do!"
However, in the time it took my cursor to traverse the more than 1,000 pixels separating it and the launch button, I had a change of heart. "Millions of people could be hurt by this decision," I thought to myself. "Am I the right person for this job?" Were I operating at a lower resolution, I fear the outcome would have been much different. At 800x600 most people are generally capable of clicking faster than their neurons fire. As an example, I reinstalled Windows (again) on my roommate's computer last night after he had installed so much spyware that Internet Explorer refused to run (which, interestingly, gave the spyware nothing to spy on). This time, I hid IE and explained how to use Firefox. If the problem persists, I'm giving the kid Lynx. It's not entirely his fault; his hand-eye coordination is simply three times faster than his sense of right and wrong.
Not Enough Interaction
Let's assume for a second that I don't have a problem with launching North Korea's arsenal (surprisingly easy logical leap, no?). There's still a problem with the launch button MSNBC has provided. Where, exactly, are those puppies aimed?
MSNBC has provided a launch button, but has offered no data on strike center population densities, probabilities of success, defensive measures in place in high-risk areas, or effective strike range. I don't want to launch a multi-million dollar warhead at Sidney only to have it run out of fuel 75 miles off the coast of New Zealand, especially if I was really trying to launch a surprise attack on Poland. I want to know that launch MEANT something.
Conclusion
The internet offers many opportunities at interaction, but not all opportunities are created equal. However, MSNBC's newest form of interaction, nuclear launch capabilities, highlights two of the all-too-common flaws in online interaction: too much, and too little. Designers need to stop and ask themselves both the questions suggested by these flaws: "Is such an interaction ethically sound?" and "How much interaction is necessary so as not to cripple the experience?" Perhaps what MSNBC really needs is a little competition to usher in a new era of well-designed launch interfaces. Google WOPR, anyone?
Rebuilding my Desktop
February 08, 2005 @ 08:58 AM
I've been having problems with my desktop since July. Luckily, my grandpa was willing to help out.
Admittedly, I should probably be saying desk top instead of the conglomerated version, but I tend to write about matters of tech, not techne, so I'm attempting to be true to my genre. Besides, during my last week or so of gloating, I've come to discover it doesn't matter one little bit how much of a pause I add between "desk" and "top;" it's still interpreted as being its younger, conjoined cousin.
So here's the deal: I have an "office" in my bedroom. Office gets quotation marks because the space I consider my office was really a walk-in closet in a former life. A brief battle with a tape measure has informed me my office is roughly 56 square feet, which doesn't sound so bad until you figure in the space two desks (one work, one computer), one bookcase, and two chairs take up. Afterwards, I have roughly seven inches (square inches) in which to maneuver.
In my "office," I have a "desk." Well, I have two desks, but one of them is a computer desk, whereas the other is just a "desk." The desk gets quotation marks because it was nothing more than an old piece of particle board set on top of a couple of chunks of wood screwed into the wall. In fact, it looked exactly like this:
You can click the image to see a slightly larger version, though I have to warn you: it don't get no prettier. Its looks weren't even the worse part (oh, no, precious, they weren't). Particle board isn't notoriously rigid. As such, any time I put any weight on the desk (say, my arms), it would sag an inch or two in the middle. Additionally, the board was (complete, yet) unfinished, which meant the particles in said board had a jolly old time tearing particle-sized holes in my clothing and skin. The desk was serviceable through the summer, because I never used it. However, when grad school started in the fall and I started sitting at that desk thirty hours a week, it and I got on pretty negative terms pretty darn fast.
What's the best part of having a recently-retired grandfather sitting at home with a basement full of carpentry-type tools? The answer, obviously, is having a grandfather (Awwww...), but a close second is that you can ask him to make things for you! I mentioned to him the particle-sized arrows of outrageous misfortune I'd endured of late, and look what I ended up with:
My desktop has been rebuilt! Also, as you can see, the rebuilding inspired me to do a little optimizing. I moved the books I use most frequently from my overstuffed bookcase to the desk, and used a huge stack of old CDs I've had sitting around forever as a bookend. I also conjured a bit of carpentry majicks of my own and put the clock on the wall. I rock.
It's still just a board suspended between two wall, but now I can see that as an asset much more than a problem. I can store all sorts of crap under the desk, without having drawers and all sorts of other stuff I'd never use getting in the way. Under my desk at the moment sits several empty boxes (in case I ship anything), a bank box full of files, a three-drawer organizer, and an empty computer case. And I still have plenty of room to stretch my legs. Thanks, grandpa!
Minor Site Adjustments
February 02, 2005 @ 01:10 PM
Although most of what I have to mention should be pretty self-evident, I figured I could post an entry about it so that you-all don't have to freak out about the clowns anymore. :)
First, the Google ads in the menu bar have migrated their way upwards, mostly because I didn't like they way they looked nestled twixt two longer, wider menus. To combat the loss of real estate on the virtual front fold, I've reduced the number of ads from four or so, to one. At least they've went from talking about church brochures (where'd THAT stuff come from, anyway?) to baby stuff. Regardless, I figure most of you don't give the ads a second glance; what little revenue the ads seem to generate (almost, but not quite, enough to pay for my hosting) tends to come from areas other than my blog.
Next, the miniblog has made a triumphant return. Now that I have an RSS aggregator that I'm in love with (which I'll post about in the near future, I hope), I should be able to find sufficient content to keep at least a good half-dozen links up at any given time. Right now, the miniblog is set to display the last seven days' worth of entries; if that proves to be too many (ie, the miniblog takes over the sidebar), I'll lower the count. For those of you who also love RSS aggregators, the miniblog has an RSS feed available here. I'll try to post a button in the sidebar sometime.
I'm not done messing with the sidebar, either. At some point, I'm hoping to incorporate some sort of a book tracker so that everyone can... I dunno... read along with me? The real problem is going to be, I read a lot of articles and not so many books. As such, I'm considering just making another MT blog and messing with it to get a bookroll, which is how I've created the miniblog and the portfolio section of the site. Until I get around to the bookroll thingie, perhaps I'll just put notes in my posts as to what I've been reading, as many of my friends seem to do.
Does anyone else have any suggestions for things to put in the sidebar? I'm always open for ideas on that one.
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Finished reading (in the last few days):
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan.
"Change" in Doing What Comes Naturally by Stanley Fish.
"The Discourse Community in Scientific and Technical Communication: Institutional and Social Views" by James P. Zappen (JTWC 19.1 1989).
"A Patriotic Left" by Michael Kazin (Dissent Fall 2002).
"A Nation Worth Defending" by William J. Bennett (USA Today Magazine Nov. 2002).
Currently reading:
New Media: A Critical Introduction by Martin Lister et. al.
Remediation by Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin.
"Instrumental Discourse Is as Humanistic as Rhetoric" by Patrick Moore (JBTC 10.1 1996)
Hmm... that's a lot of typing. Maybe I won't do that. ;)