C0rk.W0rd

More On Me... Coming SOON!

It would seem that I frontloaded my week with posts, and I've been slacking off during the later half. There has also been more of an attention to current events and product impressions, so these next few posts should bring you up to speed about what's been going on with me... enjoy!

But for NOW... some quick links:

iTunes for Windows - Rumored for October 16th
Half-Life 2 Pushed Back - Hackers to Blame
How Secure Are YOU w/ your fancy Outlook & P2P Software (KaZaA)?

A Rainy Air Show

Saturday morning I went to the Blueberry Skies Air Show at Hammonton Municipal Airport where Chaz works. My grandparents came with me because they were supposed to be showing many classic war birds. Unfortunately, it was raining sporadically all morning, so many of the classic aircraft owners opted not to fly in for the show. Luckily a B-25 bomber out of Delaware was able to do a couple fly-overs. My grandfather flew in a B-24 in the pacific during WWII, so he was really intrigued by the whole fare. There were a few other aircraft on display, some of which my grandfather could recall seeing and/or flying in during the war. We all had a good time despite the weather, the stunt pilots and static displays were sufficiently entertaining considering the size of the event.

There was a Russian Experimental Jet Fighter on display which was apparently owned by a friend of the hanger staff. Seeing the jet was cool enough, but apparently after my grandparents and I left, the owner offered to give Chaz a ride. Long story short, Chaz got to take a once-in-a-lifetime ride in a jetfighter. He will be writing about it in his blog soon. So you can all keep your eyes open for that. I'm extremely jealous. Buzzing the deck @ 400mph... OH YEA!

This is NOT the exact model fighter that Chaz flew in, but you get the idea.

ENNEAGRAM Personality Test

Below is my result from the SimilarMinds Enneagram Test... I can see some parts, but not others... Chime in, and let me know if you would agree or disagree with the results...

... And by chime in... I mean LEAVE COMMENTS!!!

I'm Supposed to Post This, And now "so r u"

Sum up your opinion or impression of me in one word, leave it as a comment in this posting, and then post this sentence in your own journal/blog.

It's All Over!!!

Finally, my work for the term is complete, and all I have to do is await the damage. I don't know if damage is really going to be the operative word, because things are looking pretty good thus far. Grades for three of my classes have already been posted all of which are 'A's'. I was surprised to receive an 'A' in 'creative non-fiction writing'. I got the distinct impression that my professor considered me a 'B' student, but I'm not going to complain. My final essays for Political Philosophy class must have rolled over real well with my professor since my only grade up until that point had been a 'B+' on the midterm, and he indicated that he was going to grade harder on the final. The computer ethics final was yesterday. All things aside I think I did decent, though there WAS the occasional memory lapse. The articles we read for class all seemed to blur together, and the final essay asked us to extract all the major point of ONE essay. Seems like this would lend an advantage to students who just happened to read one essay. Since we completed the exam less than 24 hours ago, the grades have obviously not been posted yet. The computer science exam was given this morning at 8am. I was less than thrilled by the exam-time, but at least it is out of the way. My grades in the class, up until this point make it impossible for me to FAIL. Having calculated it out, I would need to get a 13% or less on the final to get a 'D' in the class, between 43%-14% for a 'C', between 79%-44% for a 'B', and 80% or above for an 'A'. The thing with CS exams is that they are unpredictable as far as grades are concerned. Typically I end up doing better than I think, so I am going to go out on a confidence limb here (extremely uncommon for me) and say that I will probably get an 'A' or 'B' in the class, which is most agreeable, especially since this will mark the end of my Computer Science (C++) requirement at Drexel, I AM FREE I TELL YOU, FREE!!!

Then there is the issue of my ISYS210 grade. My ISYS210 teacher decided not to give us a final exam on account of her not wanting to grade them (a rare instance in which the teacher is lazier than the students). Instead, she only required that we turn in our Drexel-Check%20TM%20Documentation.doc">final project document and a disk containing our constructed database tables. For those of you keeping up, that is the Drexel Check System mentioned in a previous post. The problem arose when she failed to show up for class on the day we were supposed to submit our projects, but she called in and requested that we simply submit them at the CRC Desk in the IST Building. This all occurred last Thursday (08/28/2003). One of my project group members, Tom, works at the CRC desk, and informed me that as of last night, our professor has yet to pickup our projects from the CRC. We are not very confident that our grades will be submitted promptly if at all. The fact of the matter is that nobody learned much of anything in the class. She may be a very nice lady, but she has no idea how to teach. Aside from her shortcomings in the teaching area, she is also has an extremely caustic delivery, oftentimes demeaning or insulting various students. I know that several students filed complaints with the college about her in-class behavior, and piss-poor teaching ability. Since she is an adjunct professor, many believe she will be let go as a result of the various complaints. Personally I can deal with her lack of professionalism, my chief concern is the fact that she is extremely lazy when it comes to returning assignments, and that I got 'NOTHING' out of the class. I am supposed to proceed with the second half of our database course load, not having learned ANYTHING in the 1st. Entering Database 2 with a disadvantage could prove disastrous.

Despite all these issues, I am pleased to be done with classes. Now I can proceed onward to a relatively worry-free co-op with ISSI. My GPA is strong and my worries greatly reduced. Not having to program C++ for a while is enough to put a smile on my fact for at least the next 3 weeks. I'll be returning to classes at the tail end of March 2003, right before I take off for a week to go skiing. I plan on applying to the Honors College while I'm on co-op. I took Political Philosophy which was supposed to be 'Honors Only', but they didn't seem to notice an 'outsider' in their midst. An 'A' in HNRS202 (Political Phil) and my high GPA should be enough to get me in, though I am told the Honors College itself is not big deal, but it always looks good on a resume.

Well, Andrew just IM'ed me and wants me to come help him set up a wireless network to get his new Alienware on the net. So I guess that mean that I should make with some decent garb. I'll try to squeeze in another post later. I just bought Battlefield 1942, so I'm a little distracted. Having demo'ed it a few months back, it didn't impress me. It seemed to be very sloppy with poor graphics handling and countless bugs. Though after patching it, it plays pretty well. OK, i have to split now.

Some Works?

I'm sitting in Cognitive Psychology class at the moment, and I thought I would make a little blog entry to pass the time. First, I wanted to apologize for neglecting to make frequent updates over the last week. School work has been piling up. In fact I've written over 30 pages of text in the last 48 hours, so you should feel luck that I still feel like churning out this mindless drek. That is why I have decided to use this post to showcase my work. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, but if you're bored enough, have a read and lemme know what you think...

In the area of Political Philosophy...

My class entitled 'Critical Issues in Political Philosophy' required that I respond to four essay prompts. You may remember that I completed similar work in the middle of the term. I found these essays easier to write than the ones I did earlier in the term. I think it was because the prompts were more open-ended. The philosophers discussed during the later half of the term were also a bit more interesting, so I'm certain THAT helped as well... After reading the prompt, click the 'My Response' link to download the *.doc file and enjoy!

Essay 1 Prompt - John Rawls and Robert Nozick offer very different (and clearly incompatible) perspectives on what a theory of justice in political philosophy is supposed to do. What are their fundamental differences and assumptions? If Aristotle were to read Nozick’s work on the nature and value of political society, what critique might you imagine him offering? Would you agree with Aristotle’s analysis? Why or why not? - My Response

Essay 2 Prompt - In what specific ways is the concept of rights (meaning not simply legal rights but what we’ve called “second-generation rights”) connected with the idea of distributive justice? Would a classical Marxist agree that a capitalist society can be structured in ways to make it embody meaningful principles of distributive justice? Why or why not? - My Response

Essay 3 Prompt - Louis Menand, in the article we discussed from The New Yorker (28 July 2003), notes that many Americans believe that “a genuinely free person would never willingly exchange his lot to live under the thumb of an autocratic priesthood” (or, one assumes, any other form of servitude). In what ways does Hobbes’ Leviathan present a counter argument to this thesis? Does it ring true or false in your view? Develop and explain your answer. - My Response

Essay 4 Prompt - We’ve discussed several philosophical replies to the critical question of political obligation, namely, how can one be obliged to obey the law and still remain free, still retain a meaningful sense of moral agency. Of the positions we’ve analyzed (for example, Hobbes, Locke, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hegel), which response, in your view, is the most defensible? What are your arguments for coming to this conclusion? - My Response

Creative Non-Fiction?

I attempted to produce two more creative non-fiction works for my course of the same title. Included below are the explanations I submitted to my teacher detailing my intentions while writing. I struggled with these, so they aren't very good.... try to enjoy! Click the 'Read More' link at the base of the explanation for the *.doc file.

The Teachings of Cathol… Who’s Cathol? (Reflective Essay)
This is intended to justify and rationalize my current religious views utilizing my reflections on growing up with Catholicism. I intended it to be ironic that the more I learned about Catholicism, the farther I withdrew from it. There is also an attempt to inject humor in order to maintain a light-heartedness throughout, though I think that will depend more on the readers sense-of-humor regarding religion. The reader should, by the end, understand how and why I came to abandon Catholicism, as well as the righteousness of my value system despite the religion’s absence from my life. - Read More

On the Value of Bad Movies (Historical/Opinion Essay)
Using a recent situation as a base from which to launch my analysis, I attempt to express to the reader my opinion of bad movies. I use historical data to back up the claim that American seem to love bad movies, but offer the argument that the nature of their love is inconsistent with my own. This leads me offer the conclusion that Americans have generally poor taste in film. I end with a question that is intended to emphasize the peculiar nature of the introductory situation, on the basis of my conclusion. - Read More

Computer Ethics

My final paper for Computer Ethics class relates to a VERY current issue. It discusses the recent actions of the Recording Industry Association of America has taken against file swappers and argues for alternative solutions to music piracy. Click the article title below for the *.doc.

The RIAA’s Mission Against File-Swappers: A Mission Against the Consumer

For all you Database People

For the last two terms, myself along with four other IST students have been designing a Drexel Check system. We finally finished up the documentation for our proposed system, along with SQL database specifications. If you're highly interested and into tech stuff, feel free to Drexel-Check TM Documentation.doc">download this robust document (960KB - 47 Pages)

Cuz You're Only Gonna Walk All Over Me...

This past week was long and rough. Since the end of the term is speedily approaching, all assigned work is coming to quite a head. I long for the days of summer that so many others are in the process of enjoying, though not for long. Many will be departing for their respective colleges REAL soon, and I will once again be left alone to wander the barren Serengeti Plain... otherwise known as Voorhees. Though I think I will hold off commenting extensively on such things, as I still have a few weeks left to enjoy. The rents are out of town this weekend. They went up to Vermont for a long weekend, during which they plan to visit several northeast colleges with my sister. I think they're coming home on Tuesday or something. Then, they will be departing once again, only this time for Florida; Orlando to be exact. I'm not sure why, since we've been to Orlando twice in the last 5 years. Though I think it has something to do with my uncle wanting his kids to have the 'magical Disney experience' again. Anyway... this leaves me with the house for quite a few days over the next few weeks. With the hot tub in place, I'm gearing up to take full advantage of these proceeding weeks...

In other news, I went to see Counting Crows and John Mayer last night. To my chagrin, Counting Crows as the first act to take the stage. They played for about an hour and a half, during which they performed selections from all four albums including Around Here, Omaha (a personal favorite), Mr Jones, Long December, St. Robinson in His Cadillac Dream, Hangin' Around, Hard Candy, American Girls, & Miami, and sadly Big Yellow Taxi, which is maybe the ONLY Counting Crows song (actually its not really their song anyway) that I don't really like a great deal. But I suppose you have to satisfy the teeny-bopper pop-culture people who are only there to see John Mayer and only know the Counting Crows as that band who sings You Don't Know What You've Got Till Its Gone or Paved Paradise... Despite being a shit song, its still called Big Yellow Taxi you life sucking purveyors of bad taste and mediocrity. So yea, I don't have any pictures or anything because I was too busy taking in the music to be worried about capturing a blacked out shot of the Crows. Though there was no shortage of flashbulbs firing during John Mayer. "He's SOOO DREAMY". Ok, let me try to put my feelings on John Mayer into perspective here. He's a perfectly legitimate musician whose talent I can comprehend. I'm not going to sit here and tell you he is talent-less, but I'm also not going to lie to you and tell you I really dig his music. What can I say, his songs simply do not strike a chord with me, like they do with so many others. Maybe I am missing something, but I will generally not listen to John Mayer on the radio unless there is NOTHING else decent on the dial. I wish John the best of luck with his budding musical career, and I do feel bad that he's fallin' into that teenage heart-throb camp, for some, it may knock his credibility as a musician...

... if I may offer a comparison. My opinions towards John Mayer are similar to those I have towards Pink Floyd (I am not implying that they are on the same musical level - so all you classic rockers calm down)... All I'm saying is that I never GOT Pink Floyd. I hear their songs, I recognize their talent, and I kinduv understand why others might like them... but I'm simply not captivated by any of their songs...

…Although I can't plain understand Guns 'N Roses... I fucking HATE that (apparently nostalgic) crap. Axle Rose makes an absolute mockery of his fan-base, and is a mediocre talent at BEST... frankly, I find his voice exceedingly irritating. Ok, so enough on the music already... what else is going on...?

...Well, after the concert, I was tailed back to Drexel to attend Tarrah's party. I was disappointed that the concert forced us to arrive late. From the looks of things, it had been a pretty wild night on Winter Street. I ran into a few familiar faces, but things had otherwise died down by the time of our arrival, though I did manage to see a few keg stands being executed --- what a mindless practice. We didn't stay too long, as Chaz and I were a little hungry, and had a craving for Pat's. We picked up some Pat's on our way back to Jersey -- "Wiz Wit" -- and enjoyed a refreshing black cherry wishniak... It was a pretty good night, the Pat's was good and the Crows were excellent!

I slept late today... real late. Sleeping till 1230 hasn't been a common thing for me in quite a few years, but my late night made it a necessity. I'm chilling in my kitchen right now, with a melodious thunder soundtrack. A pretty impressive thunderstorm rolled in a few minutes ago, and I am trying to thoroughly enjoy it whilst I write this blog entry. I absolutely love thunder, lightening, and rain -- I guess I could try to be cool and say "because it reflects my personality -- dark, loud, and ominous", but those things just seem WAY too cool to be used in association with me. There was a time (in high school) where I would intentionally try to exude a dark and ill-tempered presence. Though I have to say I have become disenchanted with the esthetics of exhibiting such a personality. I never really embraced the 'goth' culture. It just all seemed too contrived to me. Granted, I enjoy most goth-folk --- but having talked to my fair share, 'some' seem to be cut from a mold, and don't know anything but infrequent showering (kidding you guys - this is my pathetic attempt at humor) and eyeliner... though the later can look pretty cool if done properly.

... This is not to say that I am better than the goths... just different. Whatever soul-less contempt I attempt to express is typically done verbally. When I do feel the need to dress my mood it typically takes the form of well pressed black pants and shirt, as well as a black tie, if the occasion permits. I'm not dangerous, nor is it my intention to be overtly intimidating by virtue of my appearance. And lets be fair folks, who are always the coolest villains, the eloquent and cunning, not the boisterous and flashy. My apologies to all the goths out there, though I'm not sure I've really insulted you --- I still love you, even though love is apparently DEAD to you.

OK, so how is that for going off on a wild tangent. In an odd way, the tangent arrived and left with the storm. Now it is sunny and calm not 10 minutes after the whole thing began... an odd progression wouldn't you say. {{{yawn/stretch}}} --- To avoid going on too long, I think I will make this the END of this particular post. Sorry about the lull in the middle/end of the week... I've been busy and suffering from self imposed writers block or maybe just a lack of intriguing events worth discussing --- Grumble Grumble Grumble --- I promise more mindless commentary soon... and speaking of commentary... kindly leave yours below as a few others have graciously done before you. Later!

Tubbin'

The fam came to the decision that we wanted to enjoy the benefits of a hot tub at our own home, rather than only in Vermont. A few weeks back we purchased a 400 gallon hot tub from Piper Pools in Berlin. NJ. It is a BeachComber 700 Model that is really REALLY cool. Rather than go into detail about the numerous features of our tub, I think I will just let all the pictures do the talking...

Click Thumbnails For Full-Size View

... so yea, that is what I have been spending a great deal of my time in. If anyone is up for a tub gimme a call... all are invited, but donations (donations=beverages) are welcome. I have some more things I could tell you about, but I need to go grab a quick tub before the Eagles Pre-Season Game. This will be my first good look at the line up... though I doubt they will be showing off the 1st-strings just yet.

I will try to make another, more comprehensive update later tonight to discuss some other things going on in 'The Life Of c0rk'