Recently in Rants Category

I have been told a couple things this past couple of weeks that I find at the least bit noteworthy.
First off, I was told since I was leaving Provo I should at the very least confess my undying love to someone. This exchange came as I chatted with a friend about my frantic search for apartments in KC and the struggles of moving. He thought it would be fun to do just to change the stress levels in my life. He had suggestions as to who I could make such declarations to and why they would be prudent to do. I ignored this bit of advice.
Secondly, I have been told many many many things about benefits and new jobs and financial changes that will be occurring over the next little while in my life. The best line from people unnamed was “Don’t be a cheap ass bastard, splurge on yourself every now and then” It makes me laugh only when I think of the thick Texan accent it was said in.
Lastly, I was encouraged my father to not delay in my educational pursuits. This has actually been told to me a couple of different time but altogether it was the same. It was something about once being out of school over time parts of the brain shut down due to inactivity that you don’t otherwise use.
It is not like I have had time to really process these things, but it was one of those things on the back of my mind this afternoon.

Someone walked up to me, and for the fourth or fifth time in 24 hours asked me how to do the same task. It wasn't that hard to do and were someone to google the question it shows up as the first result. I will go further and say that were you to have to ask more than once how to do it, it would have been a good idea to write down the response. So when the response from me was "you're an idiot" slipped out of my mouth, I was shocked when the offended party asked me to clarify why I said that.

I think there are simple rules of education, and it is really broken down on a person's willingness to find out things on their own. This also forms the basis of my generalization of underclassmen around me and therefore is used to apply when people begin to talk to me.
First when given a problem you look at it and begin to see what you know and try to solve the problem, you probably are an intelligent human being. I expect these types of people not to bother me because if they ask a question it has some thought behind it.

Second when given a problem, you first ask for a hint on how to do it. Yeah these are the people I begin to question why they are near me. I have a good chance of referencing you on some level of an idiot. I think the world is filled with this type of people and they wonder why things never seem to work for them, it maybe because they expect someone else to do them.

Lastly when given a problem, you must be walked thru every step. This is also known as the high school mentality. I have no problem calling you an idiot. There are some lines that shouldnt be crossed and asking to have the problem worked out for you causes me to think that maybe the college life is beyond your level to think and reason. I am pretty sure these people are where they are in life because of the efforts of people around them and not of their own volition.

In reference to all that, I have been told I should be nicer. It was just something of note.

~u

August 25
James is overjoyed by how much work the bootcamp produces allowing him to be rather antisocial...

So the hectic life of bootcamp came to a close this week. I am grateful for the time spent getting a glimpse into the next year, but it is still a lot to process. So with the getting to campus by 8 to the being on campus until 8 to the eventual laundry list of things that were really important for the next day, I chugged along.

On Wednesday, the first year students, who stuck it around, got what would be their TAing assignments. I had a good clue to what I was to be doing, because I have been around and was kind of told what I was to be doing...

So when there was a change of that assignment, I asked a question. I didnt realize that I was causing 'tension' to occur as I was latter told. Some basic thoughts there is that even though there are ten first year students, not everyone is on the same boat. 5 of the 10 are part of an integrated program where they are finishing a undergrad degree in addition to being a master's program over the next 2 years. The goal is that they are going to complete in 5 years what it takes other people to do in 6. Of the remaining 5 new students, 3 come from universities other than BYU and have no former relationship with the faculty, and besides myself the other person graduated a couple years back with a minor in stats and so not really sure what that means.

So, having Dr. Scott tell me after the fact that I had caused 'tension' when I asked Dr. Grimshaw if I was going to continue doing the research I had started months ago or if I really was going to be TAing 20 hours a week. The feeling was that all the first years should be treated equally [which is odd given historical data] and that it would be unfair for me to be assigned 10 hours TAing and 10 hours research.

But there is an inherent difference between all the groups. Take the integrated people, they are given less of an assignment because they are working on finishing up other requirements, and they aren't expected to be as far along as someone with a degree. The people walking in with degrees sort of just showed up at the beginning of bootcamp, and therefore there is no knowledge of what they can and cant do, but someone who was walked in already working on something should have it recognized.

Now I am not trying to be treated as a 'favored child' as people have put it, but as it was pointed out, might as well allow someone to work on a Master's Project early instead of delaying it an entire year.

History has shown that last year they were more than willing to show favoritism to parties, either because they were well liked or that they had something going for them, it should be no different now, especially as not a lot has changed, if anything, to how you approach the situation.

oh well...

~u